
Glass 

Copyright N° 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



RICHMOND: 



6 i 



An Illustrated 



Hand Book and Guide 



WITH NOTICES 



OF THE 



Battle-Fields 



I=»;F£IOJE^, 2-=> OE^HM^TS. 



RICHMOND 



An Illustrated 



Hand Book and Guide 

WITH NOTICES 

OF THE 

Battle-Fields. 



V BY 

C. POINDEXTER. 



i^i^ic^e:, ss cents. 



Copyrighted 1896. 



JUL IS 1896 



RICHMOND, VA.: 

J. L. Hill Printing Co., Publishers and Printers, 

1896. 






The memorials and the things of fame 
Tit a! do renown this city.'''' 



^t*n^ 



CONTENTS: 



I. INTRODUCTORY. 

II. HISTORIC SYNOPSIS. 

III. STREETS AND PARKS. 

IV. STREET-CAR LINES. 
V. POINTS OF INTEREST. 

VI. CAPITOL SQUARE ] *SS%2Z£° 

VII. TOURS OF THE CITY. 

VIII. BUSINESS INTERESTS. 

IX. EDUCATIONAL. 

X. RELIGIOUS. 

XI. SOCIAL AND MILITARY. 

XII. HOSPITALS AND CHARITIES. 

XIII. RAILROADS. &c. 

XIY. BATTLEFIELDS. 



s 



INTRODUCTORY 




SEAL OF RICHMOND. 

FROM the vantage ground of any elevated point 
in or around Richmond the eye takes in a 
scene of varied and picturesque interest. The 
natural features of the landscape, with its variety 
of hill, valley, and plain, threaded by the waters of 
the river, combine to make a picture whose beauty 
has long been admired and celebrated. These natu- 
ral beauties seem a fit setting and frame for the city 
itself, with its varied human interests and romantic 
history. In natural and historic interest, fame ranks 
Richmond among the very first cities of the country, 
with a reputation far surpassing that of many other 
places superior to her in population and wealth. 



4 Introductory. 

While the events of recent years have added to her 
ancient prestige as the capital of the Old Dominion, 
the city is also rapidly advancing, in her modern pro- 
gress, to a commercial and business importance that 
may prove commensurate with her ancient and his- 
toric interest. The busy, growing Richmond of to- 
day, fast developing her trade and manufactures, may 
enlist the interest and challenge the admiration of the 
mere business-man, who sees everywhere the results 
of energy and enterprise that have more than doubled 
the city's area and population since the war. Grati- 
fying as is this fact of material progress, yet the main 
element of the city's interest and fame is on the his- 
toric side. 

The visitor, overlooking the scene in and around 
the city to-day, may have his imagination stirred 
by the fact that his vision takes in the very spot trod 
by the first English settlers of this country, who, im- 
mediately after the landing at Jamestown, explored 
up the river as far as the present site of Richmond, 
where their further progress was stopped by the falls 
that now furnish water-power for the city. Here was 
the locality of famous Indian and colonial contests 
when the country around Richmond was yet only the 
frontier of advancing civilization. Over these roads 
and streets British troops marched when Richmond 
was invaded by Arnold and Tarleton in the last year 
of the Revolutionary war. Here was the arena of 
momentous events in the late civil war, when all the 
region around the city was the camping and march- 



Introductory. 5 

ing ground of great armies, the thunder and smoke 
of whose battles was sometimes heard and seen within 
the city itself. Here the last scenes of that great 
contest culminated in the disaster and ruin that left 
large sections of the city in ashes. And here the 
same courage and energy that during four long years 
of war made the city as a fortress of rock — 

"A looming bastion fringed with fire" — 

have been applied in these later years to the arts and 
duties of peace, and have made Richmond what she 
is to-day. 

It is the design of this little book to describe briefly 
some of the attractions and characteristics of the city, 
and to serve as a guide to places and things of in- 
terest. The reader will consult the index at the end 
for reference to particular objects. 



HISTORIC SYNOPSIS 




R 



WILLIAM BYRD. 
(Founder of Richmond.) 

ICHMOND is at the head ot tide and navigation, 

on the north bank of James river, one hundred 

and twenty-five miles by water from the ocean. 

1607. (May) Discovery of the site by Newport 



Historic Synopsis. 7 

and Capt. John Smith, who explored the river to the 

falls. . 

1645. Fort Charles erected for protection ot the 

frontier. 

1656. Probable date of Bloody Run Indian battle. 

1733. Town " at Shaccos, to be called Richmond," 
projected by Col. William Byrd. 

173.7. Richmond founded, and lots offered for sale. 

1740. St. John's church built. 

1742. Richmond incorporated as a town. 

1771. Great flood in James river. 

1775. Virginia Convention met in St. John's 
church' Patrick Henry's "Give me liberty, or give 
me death" speech. 

1779. Capital moved from Williamsburg. 

1781. Richmond invaded by Arnold; Tarleton's 
raid disperses the Legislature. 

1782. Incorporated as a city. 

1785. Foundation of Capitol building laid. 

1786. Old Masons' Hall erected; first Masonic 
building in America. 

1787. Mayo's bridge built. A destructive fire 
burnt fifty houses. 

1788. Virginia Convention ratified Federal Consti- 
tution. 

1790. Population 3,761 . About 300 houses in the 

city. 

1792. Capitol completed. 

1793. Richmond Light Infantry Blues organized. 
1800. Population 5,730. 



8 Historic Synopsis. 

1809. Haxall Flour Mills established. 

1810. Population 9,785. 

1811. (Dec. 26) Burning- of Theatre ; sixty lives 
lost. 

1812. War vessel built by contributions of ladies 
of Richmond. 

1814. Stone bridge built over Shockoe creek. Mon- 
umental church built. 

1817. Union Hotel and Marshall Theatre built. 
1820. Population 12,067. 

1830. Population 16,060. Richmond College 
founded. 

1831. Reservoir and water- works finished. 

1837. Tredegar Iron Works established. 

1838. Medical College established. 

1840. Population 20,153. Exchange Hotel built. 

1849. Hollywood Cemetery dedicated. 

1850. Population 27,570. Corner-stone of Wash- 
ington Monument laid. 

1851. Streets lighted with gas. 

1858. Washington Monument dedicated. 

1860. Population 37,910. State Convention met 
in December. 

1861. State seceded from Union April 17th; 5,000 
Richmond troops volunteered for service. ' ' Pawnee ' ' 
war, April 21st. 

1862. Seven days' battles, June 25th-July 1st. 

1864. (May-June) Grant's campaign around city. 

1865. (April 3d) Evacuation by Confederate army ; 
large section of the city burnt. 



Historic Synopsis. 9 

18 6 6. Richmond (now Commonwealth) Club 
founded. 

1867. " Reconstruction" Convention met. Cham- 
ber of Commerce established. 

1870. Population 51,038. April 27th, Capitol dis- 
aster, 65 killed, 200 injured. December 25th, Spots- 
wood Hotel burnt, with loss of three lives. 

1875. (October 26th) Jackson Statue dedicated. 

1876. Mozart Association organized. 

1877. Westmoreland Club founded. Great flood 
in river, with rise of 25 i feet. 

1880. Population 63,600. Commercial Club 
founded. 

1881. Yorktown Centennial celebration. 

1885. Cluverius murder case. August, four com- 
panies military attend General Grant's funeral in New 
York. 

1886. Mozart Academy of Music dedicated. Elec- 
tric lights introduced. August 31st, heavy earthquake 
shock. 

1888. Electric railways inaugurated. 
1890. Population 81,388. Lee Monument ded- 
icated. 

1892. Howitzer Statue dedicated. 

1894. Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument dedicated. 
City Hall finished. Chamber of Commerce building 
finished. 

1895. New Howitzer Armory finished. Jefferson 
Hotel opened. 

1896. Population, estimated, 95,000. 



STREETS AND PARKS. 



THE streets of Richmond are generally laid off in 
such regularity that it is easy to find the way 
from one point to another. The main thorough- 
fares and cross streets, intersecting at right an- 
gles, form squares of nearly equal dimensions, that 
average about sixteen to a mile. The streets running 
east and west, the length of the city, are designated 
by names, the principal ones being, in order from the 
river, Cary, Main, Franklin, Grace, Broad, Marshall, 
Clay, Leigh. The cross streets below, or east of, 
Foushee street, are designated numerically ; from 
Foushee westward, they are designated by names. 
Signs at every corner show the name or number of 
the intersecting streets. On the main thoroughfares 
the houses are numbered east and west from Foushee 
street. The numbering on the cross streets, north 
and south, begins from Main street. For example : 
No. 900 east Main is the corner of Main and Ninth ; 
No. 900 west Main street is nine squares west from 
Foushee ; No. 400 north Ninth is four squares north 
of Main, and so on through the city. The principal 
business streets are Cary, Main, and Broad, most of 
the retail shopping business being located on Broad, 
from Ninth street westward. The area of the city is 
about five and a half square miles, and there are about 
one hundred and sixteen miles of streets. 



Streets and Parks. 11 

Richmond is well provided with parks or public 
squares, whose total area is nearly one-tenth of the 
city. The most important of these are — 

Capitol Square, about 10 acres. 

New Reservoir Park, 300 acres, at the west end. 

Chimborazo Park, 39 acres, at the east end. 

Jefferson Park, 6 acres, at Church Hill avenue and 
Twenty-first street. 

Marshall Square, 7 acres, on Libby Hill. 

Gamble s Hill, 8 acres, foot of Third street. 

Monroe Square, 7 acres, at Main and Belvidere 
streets. 

Riverside Park, 4 acres, foot of Laurel street. 



STREET-CAR LINES. 



IINES of electric and horse cars traverse the city, 
giving easy and rapid transit to, or within a short 
-rf distance of, most points within the corporate 
limits, or on the suburbs. Three lines of electric 
railway run the length of the city, covering routes 
about four miles in length. 

The Main- Street Line extends the length of that 
street, from East Richmond and Fulton, the lower 
part of the city, to Reservoir Park, at the extreme 
west end. This line passes the steamboat wharves at 
Rocketts, Libby Hill, County Courthouse, St. John's 
church, two squares north, at Twenty-fifth street; 
Libby Prison site, one square south, at Twentieth 
street; the Old Stone House, the First Market, Lex- 
ington Hotel, Post-office, the Banks, Chamber of 
Commerce building, Rosemary Library, Jefferson Ho- 
tel, Monroe Park, Soldiers' Home, two squares north 
at the Boulevard. The line connects and transfers at 
Fourteenth street, southward to Manchester, north- 
ward to Marshall street ; at Ninth street northward 
to Broad ; at Seventh street southward to Union De- 
pot, Manchester, and Forest Hill Park, northward to 
Chestnut Hill ; at Laurel street southward to Holly- 
wood, northward to Broad street ; at Beech street 
southward to the Reservoir, northward to Clay street. 



Street-Car Lines. 13 

The Broad- Street Line extends the length of 
Broad street from Chimborazo Park to the Fair 
Grounds, passing St. John's church, Jefferson Park, 
Chesapeake and Ohio Depot, Monumental church, 
Ford's Hotel, City Hall, Murphy's Hotel, Masonic 
Temple, Richmond College, Lee Monument. 

The Clay -Street Line, extending from Union and 
Church Hills, passes through various cross and main 
streets to reach its western terminus at Main and 
Beech streets. On Church Hill avenue it passes Jeffer- 
son Park ; on Franklin street it passes the First Mar- 
ket, Exchange Hotel, Capitol Square, Lee residence. 
From Franklin street it passes up Seventh to Clay, 
thence westward to Hancock and Beech streets, where 
it connects with the Main-street and Reservoir lines. 
Its route is mainly through residence streets. This 
line connects at Seventeenth street northward to Loco- 
motive Works and Chesapeake and Ohio Company's 
shops ; at Seventh street northward to Chestnut Hill, 
southward to Union Depot, Manchester, and Forest 
Hill Park ; at First street northward to Barton Heights 
and Lakeside Park ; at Beech street southward and 
westward to Old and New Reservoirs. 

The Marshall- Street Line extends from Main and 
Fourteenth to Marshall and Seventh streets, and from 
Adams street westward to the Fair Grounds. 

Cross lines extend to the northern suburbs, and 
southward to Manchester and Forest Hill Park, across 
the river. They connect with main lines — 



14 Street-Car Lines. 

At First street for Barton Heights and Lakeside 
Park. 

At Seventh street northward for Chestnut Hill and 
Highland Park, southward for Union Depot, Man- 
chester, and Forest Hill Park. 

At Fourteenth street for Manchester by way of 
Mayo's bridge. 

At Seventeenth street northward to Locomotive 
Works and Chesapeake and Ohio Company's shops. 

The Seven Pines Electric Railway connects with 
the eastern terminus of the Clay-street line for the 
Seven Pines Battlefield and National Cemetery. The 
line passes through the flourishing village of Highland 
Springs, about four miles from the city. 

Hacks and carriages may be had at public stands, 
livery stables, and hotels. The Richmond hackman 
is generally a good-natured and polite colored Jehu, 
but the stranger may be warned that his information 
or invention is sometimes gauged to gratify the cus- 
tomer's curiosity. [For suggestions and information 
about tours of the city, see the chapter on that sub- 
ject] 



POINTS OF INTEREST GENERALLY. 



THE attractions of a city, about which the stranger 
asks for information, are its objects of natural 
or artistic beauty, or things and places invested 
with interest from historic association. Forty 
years ago Thackeray said of Richmond that it was the 
merriest place and the most picturesque that he had 
seen in America. The merriment that he found was 
a feature in the domestic life of the people, white and 
black, that has been somewhat modified by the stern 
experience of later years, but the picturesque element 
of the city's situation and surroundings is a lasting 
feature impressed by the hand of nature on a land- 
scape rarely equalled in beauty and variety. 

In recent years— within the life- time of many of the 
present generation— Richmond has been the arena and 
centre of historic incidents and events of world-wide 
fame, of romantic and thrilling interest, more than 
enough to furnish a stock for half a dozen average 
cities, and it is the scenes of this history that have 
most interest for visitors generally. 

The view of the city and its surroundings from any 
commanding point presents a picture of varied beauty 
and interest. On one side of the river that divides 
the landscape, the city is spread out over the hills and 
valleys that form its varied topography. Across the 
river are the town of Manchester and the wide stretch 



16 Points of Interest Generally. 

of level country surrounding it and extending to the 
fringe of forest on the horizon. In the far distance 
the silver line of the river is lost in the curves of its 
winding course to the sea. 

Libby Hill, in the eastern section, commands one 
of the widest and most interesting views of the city 
and its surroundings. Just below the hill, on the level 
ground between it and the river, is Rocketts, the 
oldest settled part of the city. The view westward 
takes in a very considerable section of the older part 
of the city, stretching from Rocketts to the crown of 
Shockoe Hill. Northward and eastward from the hill 
are the streets and roads over which marched thou- 
sands of troops during the late war to the battlefields 
around the city, and over which the Federal troops 
entered the city after its evacuation by the Confede- 
rate forces. No battlefield is visible from this or any 
other point in the city, the view being obstructed by 
woods and the unevenness of the rolling country be- 
tween the city and the battlefields, whose distance 
varies from five to twenty miles out from town. 
Libby Hill is one of the outward spurs of the ex- 
tensive plateau of Church Hill, which was so named 
from the location on it of old St. John's, in very early 
days the only church in the city. 

A few squares from the church is Jefferson Park, 
from whose elevation, crowning a spur of Union Hill, 
another extensive view is had of the older part of the 
city, looking across Shockoe valley to the plateau of 
the opposite hills. Below the hill, on Main street, is 




THE OLD STOVE. 



Points of Interest Generally. 17 

the Old Stone House, built probably before the middle 
of the last century. Down by the river, not far from 
the old house, was the site of Libby Prison, until the 
enterprise of speculators moved it to Chicago. Fur- 
ther west, on the slope of Broad street, is the Monu- 
mental church, and near by is the Davis Mansion, the 
war-time residence of the Confederate President. 

Crowning the level of Shockoe Hill are the City 
Hall and the Capitol Square with the State public 
buildings, the Washington Monument and other 
works of art. In the neighborhood of the Capitol 
were the department offices of the Confederate Gov- 
ernment. The President's office and the Treasury 
were in the Post-office building. Most of the build- 
ings occupied by other departments were burned in 
the evacuation fire of 1865, which swept the area from 
Main street to the river between Gamble's Hill and 
Fifteenth street. In this neighborhood are now the 
quarters of the tobacco and grain exchanges and 
other commercial bodies, including the Chamber of 
Commerce building. 

Westward from the Capitol are the principal resi- 
dent sections of the city, where many of the streets 
are almost sylvan in aspect, with their thickly-planted 
shade trees. At the foot of Third street Gamble's 
Hill commands a beautiful and extensive view of the 
river and parts of the city, overlooking Belle Isle, a 
noted prisoner's camp during the war. On the hill to 
the right is the State Penitentiary, and a short dis- 
tance above is Hollywood Cemetery, with its pictu- 



18 Points of Interest Generally. 

resque beauty of wooded hill and glen, and famous 
as the burial place of many illustrious dead. 

Twenty years ago Monroe Park was about the 
western limit of the city. Since that time the modern 
growth of Richmond has extended far beyond to the 
westward, and the streets of this new section are 
adorned with many handsome residences. At the 
head of Franklin street, just beyond the spacious 
grounds of Richmond College, is the Lee Monument, 
and further out are the Soldiers' Home and Reservoir 
Park, a favorite public resort at the western terminus 
of the Main-street electric car line. Most of the 
points mentioned are reached by, or in a short dis- 
tance from, electric car lines. 

Scattered through the city are many establishments 
and institutions where the visitor finds much to interest 
him. The Valentine Museum is an exceedingly valu- 
uable collection and library, mainly illustrative of 
American archaeology, and the studio of Mr. E. V. 
Valentine, the sculptor, is much visited by lovers of 
art. 

The large and massive Masonic Temple is one of 
the landmarks of upper Broad street, and the lofty 
clock towers of the new Jefferson Hotel are conspicu- 
ous objects from many points. The architectural 
beauty and fine appointments of this building, cover- 
ing half a square of ground from Franklin to Main 
streets, have gained for it wide reputation as one of 
the finest hotels in the country. 



Points of Interest Generally. 



19 







MASONIC TEMPLE. 



Richmond is well supplied with religious, scientific, 
and social institutions that illustrate the life and char- 
acter of her people. The visitor may find in these, 
as well as in her business and manufacturing establish- 
ments, much to engage his interest. More particular 
notice of many of the objects and points mentioned 
will be found in subsequent pages. 



20 



Points of Interest Generally. 



Many of the suburbs of Richmond are attractive 
from their natural beauty, but their chief interest is as 
the scenes of conflict in the late war. In many places 
there yet remain the earthworks thrown up for defence 




A. P. HILL MONUMENT. 



of the city, and in a zone of from three to twenty 
miles outside the city every road leads to battlefields, 
some of which were scenes of the severest conflicts of 
the war. Yellow Tavern, where Stuart fell in repuls- 
ing Sheridan's raid ; Strawberry Hill, across whose 



Points of Interest Generally. 21 

wide meadow Hill's division moved to open the seven 
days' battle that ended at Malvern Hill ; Mechanics- 
ville, Gaines' Mill, Cold Harbor, Savage Station, 
Seven Pines, are among the more noted fields of a 
region every foot of which was trampled by hostile 
forces in the campaigns of 1862 and 1864. These and 
other places, easily accessible from the city, are visited 
by many tourists. [For notices of battlefields see 
the chapter on that subject.] 

Richmond is the centre of a region of the highest 
historic interest. A circuit of one hundred miles 
around the city is the arena of more historic events 
than any other equal area in this country. Within 
that radius Anglo-American civilization was founded 
on this continent, and the political and military history 
of the Revolution was practically begun and ended ; 
and here were decisive contests of the civil war. This 
circuit embraces Jamestown, Williamsburg, York- 
town, Petersburg, with Appomattox just outside the 
circle. All of these points are conveniently reached 
from Richmond by rail or water. 



CAPITOL SQUARE 



THE Capitol Square is the centre of interest in 
Richmond, as the spot in and around which 
cluster many memorials of the State's history. 
The Square, enclosing about ten acres of ground, 
is an ideally beautiful park, adorned with trees, flow- 
ers, and fountains. From the terrace on which stands 
the Capitol building, the ground gently slopes on the 
south side, where it falls away to the level of the street 
below. The appearance of the grounds now, with 
their smooth, grassy sward and intersecting walks, is 
a great contrast to their original aspect, as described 
by an antiquarian whose memory went back to the 
years of the last century. The Square was then a 
rugged piece of ground, furrowed by deep ravines 
and overgrown with bushes and weeds. 

Within the enclosure of the Square are the State 
Capitol, the Governor's Mansion, the Library Build- 
ing, the Washington Monument, and the Clay and 
Jackson Statues. 

The Capitol is a building severely plain in architec- 
tural character, whose simple dignity owes nothing to 
ornamental decoration. Its classic lines and noble 
portico are worthy of more fitting material than the 
plain brick, now stuccoed and painted, of which it is 
built, a material whose cheapness recommended it to 
the poverty of the generation that erected the build- 



Capitol Square. 



23 



ing. The general design for the building was fur- 
nished by Mr. Jefferson, while minister to France, who 
sent a model and plans taken from a famous Roman 




temple of antiquity. The plans were adopted, "with 
some corrections not for the better," as Mr. Jefferson 
says. The building, begun in 1785, was finished in 
1792. With its associations of more than a century 



24 Capitol Square. 

of Virginia history, it has been the scene and arena 
of much that has made that history illustrious. 

One convention (1829-30) that met in its halls in- 
cluded, among others only less famous, such members 
as ex- Presidents Madison and Monroe, Judge Mar- 
shall, and John Randolph. Of this convention it has 
been said that the report of their proceedings and the 
Bible contain more good law than any other books in 
the world. During the late war, by courtesy of the 
State authorities, the Confederate Congress held its 
sessions in the building. 

In the basement of the building is the State Land 
Office, containing records of grants and patents dating 
back to 1620. These are the original grants from 
which are derived the deeds to landed property within 
the Commonwealth. On the floor above are the 
Rotunda and Legislative halls and clerks' offices. 

In the Rotunda is Houdon's marble statue of Wash- 
ington, a work justly pronounced to be worthy of its 
subject and of the great artist (the most famous sculp- 
tor of his time) who modelled it from Washington's 
person, having come from France for the purpose. 
Lafayette pronounced it to be " a facsimile of Wash- 
ington's person." 

The act of Assembly voting the statue was passed 
in 1784, and the statue was erected in 1796. The in- 
scription on the base, penned by Mr. Madison, shows 
the estimate of Washington by his fellow-citizens, even 
before he added to his fame the glories of his Presi- 
dential administration. The inscription reads : 




HOUDON'S STATUE OF WASHINGTON. 



26 Capitol Square. 

"The General Assembly of Virginia have caused this 
statue to be erected as a monument of affection and grati- 
tude to George Washington who, uniting to the endowment 
of the hero the virtues of the patriot, and exerting both 
in establishing the liberties of his country, has rendered 
his name dear to his fellow-citizens, and given to the world 
an immortal example of true glory. Done in the 3 T ear of 
Christ, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-eight, and 
in the year of the Commonwealth the twelfth." 

In a niche of the wall is a bust of Lafayette, also 
from the chisel of Houdon. This is a replica of the 
original presented by the State of Virginia to the city 
of Paris. 

In other niches are busts of Judge Marshall and 
General J. E. B. Stuart. 

On opposite sides of the Rotunda are the halls of 
the Senate and House of Delegates. On the wall of 
the Senate Chamber hangs Lamis' painting, "The 
Storming of a Redoubt at Yorktown." This work of 
the French artist was presented to the State by Mr. 
W. W. Corcoran, of Washington. 

The Confederate House of Representatives held its 
sessions in this chamber. The Confederate Senate 
met in a room on the floor above, since remodelled 
for the Governor's office. 

In the hall of the House are full length portraits of 
Mr. Jefferson (attributed to George Catlin) and the 
Earl of Chatham, the English statesman and vindica- 
tor of the colonies. 

On the third floor of the building are the offices of 
the Governor and the Secretary of the Commonwealth, 



Capitol Square. 27 

and various committee rooms of the Legislature. The 
State Library, formerly on this floor, and the collec- 
tion of portraits that hung around the gallery, have 
been removed to the new Library Building. 

In the gallery are preserved two interesting relics — 
the Speaker' s Chair and the Old Stove, from the 
Colonial House of Burgesses. The tradition is that 
the chair was a present from Queen Anne. In colo- 
nial days it was decorated with the royal arms of Eng- 
land, which were removed at the beginning of the 
Revolution. For nearly a century after the indepen- 
dence of the State it was kept in use in the House of 
Delegates. 

The Old Stove is an elaborate and artistic piece of 
iron work, decorated with the colonial arms and alle- 
goric figures and legends. Its maker (Buzaglo), who 
called it a "warming machine," boasted of it as "a 
masterpiece, not to be equalled in all Europe." Made 
in London in 1770, it was a present to the House of 
Burgesses from Lord Botetourt, the Colonial Gover- 
nor. It was continued in use until superseded in recent 
years by the present steam-heating apparatus in the 
rotunda. 

The fearful Capitol Disaster of April 27, 1870, was 
caused by the falling of the floor of a room in the 
northeast corner, used at the time by the Court of Ap- 
peals. The session of the court was attended by a 
packed mass of people, drawn to hear the decision in 
a case that would settle the question of carpet-bag rule 
in the city of Richmond. In those days of so-called 



28 Capitol Square. 

reconstruction, the mayoralty had been usurped by a 
carpet-bagger, the contest against whom had nearly 
culminated in bloody riot, only averted by the greatest 
prudence and forbearance. Under the weight of the 
great crowd gathered to hear the decision of the case 
the floor of the court-room gave way, precipitating 
the mass of humanity into the Hall of Delegates be- 
low. Sixty-five persons were killed and two hundred 
maimed and injured, many prominent citizens being 
among the victims of the disaster. 

The view from the top of the Capitol commands a 
wide prospect of the city and surrounding country, 
and will repay the trouble of climbing the flights of 
steps leading to the roof platform. 

The Washington Monument is generally conceded 
to be the finest, as it is the most elaborate, group of 
statuary in this country. The corner-stone was laid 
with imposing ceremonies February 22, 1850, and the 
equestrian statue, crowning the monument, was un- 
veiled and dedicated February 22, 1858. The monu- 
ment and most of the figures were the design and 
work of Thomas Crawford, born in New York, 1813. 
His death in 1857 left the work unfinished, and the 
commission for completing it was given to Randolph 
Rogers, who made the figures of Nelson and Lewis, 
and the six allegorical figures on the outer pedestals. 
The height of the monument from the ground to top 
of Washington's hat is sixty feet ; height of equestrian 
statue, twenty feet ; height of the figures Jefferson, 
Henry, and others on the pedestals around the shaft 



Capitol Square. 



29 



01 the monument, eleven feet. The diameter of the 
circular base of the monument is eighty- six feet, and 




WASHINGTON MONUMENT. 



the cost ot the work was about $260,000. The statues 
in bronze represent — 



30 Capitol Square. 

George Washington, born 1732, died 1799. 

Patrick Henry, the orator of the Revolution. 

Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Indepen- 
dence. 

George Mason, author of the Virginia Bill of Rights. 

John Marshall, Revolutionary officer, afterwards Chief 
Justice of United States. 

Thomas Nelson, General, and Revolutionary Governor of 
Virginia. 

Andrew Lewis, distinguished officer in Indian Colonial 
wars and General in Revolutionary army. 

The allegorical figures on the lower pedestals, typi- 
fying the leading facts and sentiments of the Revolu- 
tion, are inscribed with the names of some of the im- 
portant battles of that contest. The design of the 
monument, as a whole, is a memorial of the Revolu- 
tionary era and its heroes. 

The Henry Clay statue, in marble, under a pavilion, 
near the Washington Monument, was a gift to the 
State from the country-women of the great orator. 
The statue (made by Hart) was dedicated In 1860. 

The old Bell House, at the Franklin-street entrance 
of the Square, was the guard-house when, in former 
days, the State Guard (now obsolete) did police duty 
in the Square. 

The Jackson Statue is on the north side of the ave- 
nue, between the monument and the Governor's 
house. This noble work in bronze, designed by the 
English sculptor Foley, was the gift of some of his 
countrymen, as an English testimonial in honor of the 
great Virginia soldier. The base of the statue bears 
the memorial inscription : 




JACKSON STATUE. 



32 State Library. 

"Presented by English gentlemen as a tribute of admi- 
ration for the soldier and patriot, Thomas J. Jackson, and 
gratefully accepted by Virginia in the name of the South- 
ern people. Done A. 1)., 1875, in the hundredth year of 
the Commonwealth. 'Look! there is Jackson standing 
like a stone wall." " 

The dedication of the statue, October 26, 1875, was 
a memorable occasion, attended by thousands of ex- 
soldiers and citizens. 

The Governor' s Mansion, the official residence of 
the Executive, is at the eastern end of the avenue. 
Just below it is the Library Building, which is really 
and mainly an office building, in which are located 
most of the State officials. The building, recently 
finished, is a beautiful example of classic architecture, 
adapted to modern use. On the first floor are the 
offices of the Auditors, the Treasurer, and Adjutant- 
General. On the second floor are the Commissioner 
of Agriculture, Superintendent of Public Instruction, 
Attorney-General, Railroad Commissioner, and the 
office and court-room of the Court of Appeals. 

The State Lifo-ary occupies the third floor, reached 
by elevator. The Library is an exceedingly valuable 
collection of books, manuscripts, portraits, and his- 
toric relics. Containing some forty thousand volumes, 
it is especially rich in American and English history, 
with valuable collections in most departments of lite- 
rature, making it one of the best working libraries in 
the country. The gallery of portraits, pictures, and 
relics is a large illustration of the history of the State. 
Among them may be mentioned : 



State Library. 



33 




34 State Library. 

Appomattox — Ideal figure of a Confederate soldier ; 
typical of the Appomattox surrender. Painted by J. Elder. 

Archer, William S. — Representative in Congress, 1820- 
'35 ; U. S. Senator, 1841-'47. Painted by Healy. 

Blair, J. D. — Distinguished Presbyterian clergyman, 
familiarly known as "Parson" Blair; contemporary with 
" Parson " Buchanan. 

Buchanan, "Parson" — Died 1822. For many years, 
rector of Episcopal church in Richmond. 

Barbour, James — Governor 1811 ; U. S. Senator 1815-'2f> ; 
Minister to England 1828-29. 

Brooke, Robert — Governor 1796-'97 ; Attorney-General, 
1798. 

Cabell, W. H. — Governor 1805-'S : Judge Court of Ap- 
peals 1811-'51. 

Campbell, D. — Governor 1837-'40. 

Clabk, J. R. — Born 1752. As Commander of Virginia 
troops (1778-'79) he conquered the Northwest territory, ex- 
tending the borders of the United States from the Ohio 
river to the Great Lakes. 

Clay, Henry — Born in Hanover count}' 1777 ; died 1852. 
Copy from original by Neagle. 

Delaware, Lord — Governor 1610. 

Dunmore, Lord— Last Royal Governor. 1771- , 75. 

Elliott, General — Said to have been half-brother to 
Governor Spotswood, but of doubtful authenticity. 

Floyd, John— Governor 1830-'31. 

Floyd, J. B.— Governor 1849-'53 ; U. S. Secretary of War 
1857-'60 ; Brigadier-General C. S. A. 

Francisco, Peter — Died 1831 ; a giant of Revolutionary 
fame, of whose prowess and gallantry many stories are 
told. 

Giles, W. B.— Governor 1827-'30 ; member of U. S. House 
of Representatives and Senate. 

Gilmer, T. W. — Governor 1840-'41 ; Secretary of Navy 
1844 ; killed by bursting of a gun on frigate Princeton. 



State Library. 35 

Hill, A. P.— Lieutenant-General C. S. A.; killed near 
Petersburg April 2, 1865. His name was among the last 
words on the dying lips of both Lee and Jackson, who both, 
in moments of delirium, muttered something about battle 
orders to Hill. 

Henry, Patrick— Born 1736 ; orator of the Revolution ; 
first Governor of the State 1776, and again 1784-'86. 

Howard, Lord — Governor 1683-'88. 

Jefferson, Thomas— Governor, and President United 
States. Copy by J. Elder from original portrait by G. 
Stuart. 

Jackson, T. J.— Lieutenant-General C. S. A. Painted 
by G. Matthews. 

Johnson, Joseph— Governor 1852-'55. 

Johnson, Ed. — Major-General C. S. A. 

Johnston, J. E.— General C. S. A. Painted by J. Elder. 

Kemper, J. L.— Major-General C. S. A. ; Governor 
1874-78. 

Lee, R. E.— General C. S. A. Painted bv Elder. 

Lee, Henry (" Light Horse Harry ")— Father of General 
R. E. Lee; Colonel of " Lee's Legion," Revolutionary army; 
Governor 1792-'95 ; author of the phrase in eulogy of Wash- 
ington, " First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts 
of his countrymen." Copy by W. L. Sheppard of an orig- 
inal portrait by G. Stuart. 

Lee, Fitzhugh— Major-General C. S. A.; Governor 1886- 
'90. Painted by Cox. 

Lewis, Meriwether — Explored, with William Clark 
(1804-'6), the country from the Missouri to the Pacific. 

Letcher, John— In Congress 1852-'59; Governor 1859-'63. 
r Madison, James— Father of the Constitution, Secretary 
of State, and President United States. 

Marshall, John — Chief Justice United States. Painted 
by Inman. 



36 State Library 

Mason, George — Author of the Virginia Bill of Rights; 
member of U. S. Constitutional Convention, and Virginia 
Convention of 1788 ; refused to sign and voted against the 
Constitution. 

Maury, M. F.— Born 1806, died 1873; Commander U. S. 
and C. S. Navies; eminent scientist, and "Pathfinder of 
the Seas." 
McDowell, James — Governor 1843-'46. 
McKinney, P. TV- Governor 1890-'94. 
Monroe, James— Governor of Virginia 1811 ; Secretary 
of State and President of United States. Copy from origi- 
nal portrait by G. Stuart. 

Nelson, William — President of Colonial Council and 
acting Governor 1770— '71. 

Nelson, Thomas — Member of Virginia Conventions of 
1774-'5-'6 ; of Continental Congress, and signer of Declara- 
tion of Independence ; Brigadier-General and Commander 
of Virginia militia ; Governor 1781. 

Page, John— Member of Congress 1789-'97 ; Governor 
1802-'5. Copy by Healy from a portrait at age of fifteen, 
painted by Benj. West. 

Pickett, George E.— Born 1825, died 1875; Major-Gen- 
eral C. S. A.; commanded the charging column at Gettys- 
burg. 

Pocahontas — Daughter of Powhatan, Emperor of Vir- 
ginia ; rescued Captain John Smith, married John Rolfe, 
and died in England 1616. Copy by W. Sheppard from the 
original portrait in England. 

Preston, J. P.— Colonel U.. S. Army in war of 1812; 
Governor 1816-'19. 

Randolph, Edmund— Aid to Washington, member of 
Continental Congress, and Governor 1786-'88 ; member of 
U. S. Constitutional Convention 1787, and Virginia Conven- 
tion of 1788 ; first Attorney-General of U. S., and Secretary 
of State 1794. 



State Library. 37 

Randolph John (of Roanoke)— Born 1773; in House of 
Representatives 1800-'13, 1815-24 ; U. S. Senator 1825-'27; 
Minister to Russia 1830. 

Ritchie, Thomas —Born 1778, died 1854; editor of the 
Richmond Enquirer. " Father Ritchie " was of great and 
wide influence in the politics of his day. 

Robertson, W. — Governor 1836-'37. 

Robinson, John — Speaker House of Burgesses; died 1766. 

Roane, W. H — Member of House Representatives and 
Senator ; died 1845. 

Rochambeau, Count —Commander of French forces at 
Yorktown 1781. This portrait has a curious history. It 
was found and bought in South Africa by a British officer, 
who presented it to the State. The presentation was made 
through a Rochambeau, a descendant of the original, 
during the centennial celebration of 1881. 

Rutherford, John — Governor 1841-'42. 

Smith, G. W. — Governor 1811 ; lost his life in Richmond 
Theatre fire, December, 1811. 

Smith, Captain John— Born 1579, died 1632 ; landed 
with first colonists at Jamestown, May, 1607, and immedi- 
ately after explored up James river to present site of Rich- 
mond ; rescued from death by Pocahontas, January, 1608; 
President of Council in Virginia 1608-'9 ; author of the 
first History of Virginia. Painted by J. Elder. 

Smith, William— Born 1797, died 1887 ; Governor 1846- 
'49, 1864-65 ; Brigadier-General C. S. A. 

Spotswood, Alex. — Governor 1710-'22. In 1716 led ex- 
ploring party ("Knights of Golden Horseshoe") to the 
Shenandoah Valley. 

Stuart, J. E. B.— Born 1833, died 1864; Major-General 
C. S. A., commanding Cavalry of Army of Northern Vir- 
ginia ; mortal^ wounded at Yellow Tavern, near Rich- 
mond, May 11, 1864. 

Thompson, J. R.— Born 1823, died 1873 ; editor of South- 
ern Literary Messenger ; poet and writer. 



38 State Library. 

Tyler, John, Sr.— Governor 1808-'ll. ■ 

Tyler, John, Jr.— Governor 1825-'27 ; President United 
States. 

Washington, George — Photogravure from the G. Stuart 
portrait. 

Washington, Mrs. Martha— Photogravure from the G. 
Stuart portrait. 

Walker, G. C— Born in New York 1832 ; "Reconstruc- 
tion " Governor 1870-74. 

Wise, H. A. -Born 1802, died 1876 ; Governor 1856 '60 ; 
Major-General C. S. A. 

Among other important objects of interest, framed 
and hung on the walls of the Library galleries, may 
be mentioned : 

Autograph letters of Daniel Boone, General A. P. Hill, 
Thomas Jefferson, General R. E. Lee, General T. J. Jackson 
(January 31, 1862), tendering his resignation because the 
Secretary of War, at Richmond, interfered with his opera- 
tions, and his last dispatch to General Lee, written a few 
hours before his mortal wounding at Chancellorsville ; 
General H. Gates, to the President of Congress, announcing 
the surrender of Burgoyne ; E. A. Poe, March 4, 1843 ; 
George Washington, December 7, 1799, and a plat of sur- 
vey (1749) when he was seventeen years old. 

Tobacco Proclamation, 1630. 

Broadside Proclamation of resolution of the House of 
Burgesses, May 16, 1769, as to rights of taxation. 

Broadside (1769) with autograph signatures of members 
of the "Association" pledged against use of British goods 

Autograph draft Virginia Bill of Rights, 1776, signed by 
George Mason. 

Lord Cornwallis' parole, Yorktown, October 28, 1781. 

Richmond Theatre play-bill, December 26, 1811, the night 
of the fatal fire by which sixty lives were lost. 



State Library. 39 

Facsimile of letter from Lafayette commending: valuable 
service rendered by a negro slave, James, with portrait of 
the old darkey, who was bought and set free by act of 
Legislature. 

Facsimile copy of bail-bond of Jefferson Davis, signed by 
Horace Greeley, Cornelius Vanderbilt, and other prominent 
citizens, North and South. 

In addition to the items mentioned above, are 
numerous other documents, letters, and pictures, some 
of which are of great historic and antiquarian interest. 



TOURS OF THE CITY 



THE usual route of drives for strangers wishing 
to make a tour of the city is indicated by the 
following notices, in order, of some of the more 
interesting points and objects that may be in- 
cluded in a ride of two or three hours eastward or 
westward from the Capitol as a central point. 

The Eastward route is through the older part of the 
city, and embraces much of historic and scenic in- 
terest. 

The City Hall, fronting on Broad and Capitol, be- 
tween Tenth and Eleventh streets, is an imposing 
granite structure, five stories high, covering an area 
of 186 by 140 feet, and surmounted by a tower 180 
feet high. The building was finished in 1893, at a 
cost of $1,500,000. Within it are located the various 
departments of the city government and the city 
courts. Access to the lofty tower, commanding a 
wide view, is from the fourth floor, which is reached 
by elevators. In the Council chamber there is, among 
others, a portrait of William Byrd, the founder of 
Richmond. 

The Davis Mansion, the war-time residence of the 
Confederate President, at the corner of Clay and 
Twelfth streets, is now a Confederate Museum and 
memorial building. The house is an old-fashioned 
residence, built many years before the war, when this 





; 






CITY HALL, 



42 



Tours of the City. 



section of the city was more than now the abode of 
wealth and fashion. 

On the removal of the Confederate Government from 
Montgomery to Richmond the City Council bought 





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the house and offered it as a present to Mr. Davis, 
who declined to accept it as a gift, but consented to 
occupy it free of rent as his official residence, with the 
understanding that it was to remain the property of 



Tours of the City. 



43 



the city. After the capture of the city by the Federal 
forces in 1865 the house was occupied as headquarters 
by the commanders of this military district. The re- 
establishment of civil government in 1870 restored the 
building to the city authorities, and it was used until 
recently as one of the public schools. It has been 
transferred by the city to a memorial association, 
who have restored, as far as practicable, the original 
appearance and character of the building, and dedi- 
cated it as a museum for the collection of war archives 
and relics. The view from the front of the building 
overlooks a wide section of Shockoe valley and the 
surrounding hills. 

The Monumental church (Episcopal), on Broad, 




MONUMENTAL CHURCH. 



44 Tours of the City. 

below Twelfth street, is built on the site of the old 
Richmond Theatre, and as a memorial of the disas- 
trous burning of that structure, December 26, 1811, 
by which some sixty lives were lost, including the 
Governor of the State and other prominent citizens. 
A cenotaph in the portico records the names of many 
of the victims of a calamity that carried grief into nu- 
merous homes, not only in Richmond, but throughout 
the State, and awakened a wide spread sympathy all 
over the country. The church is an octagonal struc- 
ture, crowned with a dome of impressive architectural 
effect, but unfortunately not finished as originally de- 
signed. 

On the corner below, at College street, is the First 
African church, the oldest colored organization in 
the city, which has a membership of nearly three thou- 
sand. The present building is on the site of the "Old 
Baptist" church, originally occupied by a white con- 
gregation, who, on moving to a new church, gave the 
old one for negro use. The Rev. Robert Ryland 
ministered for many years to the congregation of slave 
and free negroes. On the first Sunday after the occu- 
pation of the city by the Federal troops, a mob of 
negro soldiers gathered at the church, clamorous that 
their chaplain should conduct the service and celebrate 
the freedom of the recently slave congregation. An 
officer, detailed from military headquarters, settled 
the dispute by putting the question to the vote of the 
congregation, who, in this their first free suffrage, de- 
cided in favor of their old pastor. 



Tours of the City. 45 

The building of Egyptian architecture at the next 
corner of College street, is the Medical College of 
Virginia. 

From the African church the descent of Broad street 
leads to and across Shockoe Valley, the great divide of 
Richmond' s topography. The curious explorer of this 
region may find many varied specimens of humanity, 
as well as of geology, to gratify a taste for scientific 
enquiry on either subject. The excavations and cut- 
tings along the hillsides of the valley reveal number- 
less remains of antediluvian and marine existence, 
while the tenements in some sections represent a popu- 
lation gathered or descended from most quarters and 
races of the globe. Through the valley runs the main 
line of the Chesapeake and Ohio railroad. 

Beyond the valley, at Nineteenth street, begins the 
eastern rise of Broad street, ascending Church Hill. 
To the left, at Church Hill avenue, is Jefferso?i Park, 
crowning the old Doan's Hill, from whose eminence 
there is a wide view overlooking the valley to the hills 
beyond and the country across the river. The region 
in rear of the park, now thickly built over, is the old 
Union Hill, which is losing its distinctive name since 
the filling of the long ravine that once divided it from 
Church Hill. 

Church Hill derived its name from the location on 
it of old St. John' s church, at Broad and Twenty-fourth 
streets, whose history and associations date from the 
foundation of the city. The church was built in 1740, 
only three years after the city was laid out. Originally 



46 



Tours of the City. 



it was much smaller than its presentMimensions, the 
nave and steeple being additions of later years. Its 
picturesque situation and hallowed use are worthy of 
the romantic history and associations of the venerable 
structure. In early days, when the public facilities of 
the town were but small, it was sometimes used for 




ST. JOHN'S CHURCH. 



political as well as religious gatherings. The most 
famous of these was the meeting of the Virginia Con- 
vention of March, 1775, when Patrick Henry's elo- 
quence started the ball of the Revolution, and the 
walls of the old church resounded with the thunder 
of his oratory, " Give me liberty, or give me death." 



Tours of the City. 47 

The yard around the church, occupying an entire 
city square, is thickly filled with ancient graves and 
monuments. For many years, while the early popu- 
lation was but small, St. John's was the only church 
in the town. The next church building was a Quaker 
meeting-house, on Nineteenth street, below the hill. 

A few squares beyond St. John's is Libby Hill, 
otherwise called Marshall Park, adorned with the Sol- 
diers' and Sailors' Monument. The shaft and capital 
of the monument are a reproduction, on reduced scale, 
of the antique " Pompey's Pillar," near Alexandria, 
Egypt. The bronze statue was designed by W. L. 
Sheppard, a Richmond artist. 

The view from the hill is one of varied and pictu- 
resque interest, taking in a large section of the city, 
the winding river, and beyond it the wide farms of 
Chesterfield, with the town of Manchester. At all 
seasons, but especially in spring and summer, the 
charming variety of the panorama seen from this point 
presents a picture whose natural beauties are rarely 
equalled. Below the hill, between its foot and the 
river, is the plain of Rocketts, embracing Fulton and 
East Richmond, the oldest section of the city. Over 
the waters of the river the boats of Newport and 
Smith explored up to the falls, where the first bridge is 
now seen, and its banks were trod by the feet of the 
first English settlers on this continent, immediately 
after the landing at Jamestown. Looking westward, 
the line of Main street, one of the principal avenues 
of the city, is followed over a mile, to the crown of 



48 



Tours of the City 




SOLDIERS' AND SAILORS' MONUMENT. 



Tours of the City 



49 



Shockoe Hill, where loom up the Capitol, City Hall, 
and other prominent buildings. 

Beyond Libby Hill is Chimborazo Park, command- 
ing a view of the rolling country below Richmond. 
The Park has its historic interest as the locality of an 
Indian battle, fought more than two centuries ago on 
and around its heights, and commemorated in the 
name of Bloody Run, a spring and rivulet flowing 
near by. During the late war the largest Confederate 
hospital in the city was located here. 

Oakwood Cemetery is a mile or so to the northward, 
with its monument and graves of 16,000 Confederate 
soldiers, whose resting-place is nearest the battlefields 
made glorious by their valor. 

The Old Stone House, on Main, between Nineteenth 




OLD STONE HOUSE. 



^^ war. 

Ewe 



50 Tours of the City. 

and Twentieth streets, the oldest dwelling in Rich- 
mond, was built probably before the middle of the last 
century. Built by Jacob Ege, a German immigrant, 
its ownership remained in his family for five or six 
generations. It is now occupied as a museum, where 
the curiosity of the visitor may be gratified with vari- 
ous relics of older and later days. It has as much 
claim as some other places to its tradition as Washing- 
ton's headquarters, but, as a matter of fact, the Gen- 
eral was not in Richmond during the Revolutionary 
war, 

Libby Priso7i stood down by the river, at Cary and 

entieth streets, until the enterprise of speculators 
ed it to Chicago a few years since. Originally a 
chandlery and warehouse, the building acquired great 
notoriety as a prison for Union soldiers captured 
during the war. Many of the exaggerated stories 
tpld of cruelties practiced on its inmates have been 
probably dispelled by its removal to Chicago, since 
the visitor to the building does not find the imaginary 
dungeons, about which his indignation may have been 
excited, nor is there any trace or tradition of them in 
Richmond. The most noted adventure connected 
with the prison was the escape of a Colonel Streight 
and about sixty companions, who, with knives and 
forks, tunneled under the street from the basement to 
a vacant lot, and got away in the darkness of a stormy 
night. 

The old United States Hotel, Main and Nineteenth 
streets, is now a colored theological seminary, that is 



Tours of the City. 51 

doing a good work. In its early days the building was 
one of the finest public houses in the city, and a noted 
place of entertainment, under its first name of Union 
Hotel. On the occasion of Lafayette's visit to Rich- 
mond in 1824, a triumphal arch was erected, spanning 
the street from the hotel to the opposite building. 
On the day of the parade the fairest decoration of the 
arch was a bevy of thirteen young girls, representing 
the original States. 

The old Masons' Hall, on Franklin, between 
Eighteenth and Nineteenth streets, whose corner-stone 
was laid in 1785, is the oldest exclusively Masonic 
building in the country. In it a reception was given^- 
to Lafayette during his visit, when he was elected 
honorary member of the lodge, signing the minutes 
in token of acceptance. 

The First Market House and Police Station, Main 
and Seventeenth streets, was the scene of a notable 
contest in the so-called Reconstruction days, that 
very nearly led to a bloody riot. A usurping carpet- 
bag mayor garrisoned the upper floors of the building 
with his dependants, who stood a siege until they were 
starved into surrender. One sequel of the contest was 
the Capitol disaster of April 27, 1870, when the floor 
of the court-room gave way under the weight of the 
great crowd that had assembled to hear the final 
decision of the case. 

In this lower part of the city, from Libby Hill to 
Nineteenth street, are located many of the larger 
tobacco factories, whose industry is the leading busi- ' 



52 Tours of the City. 

ness of Richmond. A visit to some of these establish- 
ments has much to interest the stranger, who may- 
be curious to see something of the ways and life of 
the negro hands, who are largely employed in the 
making of plug tobacco. Their hours of labor are 
often beguiled by stentorian choruses of strange 
melody, whose quaintness seems peculiar to the 
African race. 

Main and Fifteenth streets was about the eastern 
limit of the great Evacuation Fire, of April 3, 1865, 
that left a large section of the business quarter of the 
city in ashes. The fire was started by the burning of 
the tobacco warehouses and military stores, which 
were located generally between the river and Main 
street. On the river side the limits of the burned 
region extended up to the foot of Third street. On 
Main street, from Fifteenth to Eighth, but few houses 
were left standing on either side of the street, and the 
whole area south of that line to the river was swept 
by the conflagration. The granite post-office building, 
between Tenth and Eleventh streets, is one of the very 
few structures in that neighborhood that withstood or 
escaped the fury of the flames. The burned section 
has been almost entirely rebuilt, and there remain 
now but few traces of the conflagration that left but 
ruined walls and smoking ashes over hundreds of acres 
of ground. 

The Post- Office and Custom- House, Main, between 
Tenth and Eleventh streets, is a handsome structure, 
built of James river granite, whose lire-proof quality 



Tours of the City. 53 

was fiercely tested in the conflagration of 1865, when 
it remained the solitary building- in the midst of ruin 
and desolation. Since then it has been enlarged to 
meet the growing needs of its business. Above the 
post-office, which occupies the first floor, are the cus- 
toms and revenue offices and the United States courts. 
During the late war the building was occupied by the 
Confederate Treasury and State departments, and the 
President's office. 

The other departments of the Confederate Govern- 
ment were located in the neighborhood of the post- 
office, along Bank and Ninth streets, in buildings that 
were either burned or since replaced by others. 

Along Main street, from Seventeenth to Ninth, and 
thence south to the river, is located most of the 
heavier (wholesale) business of the city. The Banks 
and other financial institutions are mostly within three 
or four squares of the post-office. The Tobacco and 
Grain Exchanges are a short distance south from 
Main street, and in the same quarter are the larger 
Flour Mills, near the river from which they get their 
water power. 

The Chamber of Commerce building, Main and 
Ninth streets, erected 1893, is one of the finest office 
buildings in the South. The offices and hall of the 
Chamber of Commerce are on the fifth floor, reached 
by elevators. The membership of the Chamber rep- 
resents the leading business interests of the city. The 
building is largely tenanted by financial institutions 
and lawyers. 




CHAMBER OF COMMERCE. 



Tours of the City. 



55 



In this neighborhood are the offices of most of the 
railroads entering the city. 

Turning up Ninth street, the circuit of the eastern 
portion of the city is completed at the Capitol Square. 

Western Section. — Starting westvvardly from the 
Capitol, the route is through the newer and more gen- 
erally residential quarters of the city. 




FORD'S HOTEL. 

Opposite the Capitol Square is St. PauV s church, 
at Grace and Ninth streets. It was here, during the 
Sunday morning service, April 2, 1865, that the tele- 
gram from General Lee was delivered to President 
Davis, announcing that the lines at Petersburg were 
broken, and that Richmond must be evacuated. The 
evacuation was effected that night, and the next morn- 
ing the Union troops entered the city. 



56 Tours of the City. 

The Lee Mansion, Franklin street, between Seventh 
and Eighth, was the war-time residence of General 
Lee's family, and his home for a short time after the 
war. In response to a resolution of the City Council 
voting the present of a house to him, General Lee 
declined the gift, and suggested that "whatever means 
the City Council may have to spare for this purpose 
may be devoted to the relief of the families of our 
soldiers in the field, who are now in need of assistance, 
and more deserving of it than myself." 

The building is now occupied by the Virginia His- 
torical Society, which has a valuable library and col- 
lection of historical portraits. 

The Young Men's Christian Association building, 
Main and Sixth streets, is a favorite resort for its 
numerous patrons, with its advantages of lecture-hall, 
reading-rooms, and gymnasium. 

One square above, at the southeast corner of Fifth 
street, was the site of the Allan House, now demol- 
ished, noted as the home of Edgar Allan Poe, who 
was adopted in his infancy by Mr. John Allan. The 
poet's earliest years were spent in a house on Four- 
teenth street, opposite the Exchange Hotel, where 
Mr. Allan resided over his store for many years before 
his removal to the Fifth street residence. 

Gamble s Hill Park, at the foot of Third street, 
commands an extensive view of parts of the city, the 
river, and the country beyond. At the foot of the hill 
are the tracks of the river division of the Chesapeake 
and Ohio railroad, built on the tow-path of the old 



Tours of the City. 57 

James river canal. The extensive foundry buildings 
on the river bank are the Tredegar Iron Works, famous 
during the war as the great arms and ammunition 
shops of the Confederacy. 

Out in the river is Belle Isle, which was a noted 
camp for the confinement of Federal prisoners of war. 
The rapid and dangerous currents around the island 
made it a secure place of confinement, requiring but a 
small military force to guard it. Attempts at escape 
generally resulted in the drowning of those bold 
enough to elude the guard and take the chance of 
swimming the stream. Such was the fate of a con- 
siderable number who attempted to get away one night 
in 1862. 

Pratt's Castle, the turreted building on the north 
side of the Park, was not a colonial fortress against 
Indian incursions, as strangers are sometimes told by 
imaginative hack drivers. It was the architectural 
fancy of an artist, built some forty years ago. 

To the right and westward from the Park, on the 
hill beyond, is seen the State Pe?iite?itiary. Beyond 
it, on the river bank, is Hollywood Cemetery, one of 
the most beautiful and interesting spots around Rich- 
mond, whose wooded glens and hills, overlooking the 
rapids of the river, retain much of their original natu- 
ral beauty, while the hand of art has done much to 
decorate and improve the grounds. 

On the hill opposite to the ivy-grown entrance por- 
tal, is the Confederate section, marked by a massive 
pyramid of undressed granite, forty feet square at the 



58 



Tours of the City. 



base and ninety feet high. Around it are the graves 
of 12, 000 soldiers, marked by granite headstones bear- 




ing numbers which refer to the names, as far as known, 
in the printed register of those buried in the section. 
Near one of the entrance gates on Gettysburg Hill, is 



Tours of the City. 59 

the monument erected by the Pickett's Division Asso- 
ciation, where are reburied some of those who fell at 
Gettysburg. 

On the hill overlooking the river are the graves of 
Presidents Monroe and Tyler. Monroe's remains 
were brought from New York in 1857 under the escort 
of the New York Seventh Regiment, and are interred 
under a granite and iron mausoleum. Some distance 
beyond is the grave of the Confederate President, 
Davis, whose remains were brought here from New 
Orleans in 1893. Among other notable graves in the 
cemetery are those of Generals J. E. B. Stuart, Pick- 
ett, Pegram, William Smith, Wise ; Commodore 
Maury, John Randolph, of Roanoke ; Thomas Ritchie, 
founder and editor of the Enquirer; John M. Daniel, 
the war editor of the Examiner; John R. Thompson, 
the poet and editor of the Southern Literary Maga- 
zine; James A. Seddon, Confederate Secretary of 
War ; Caroline Richings-Bernard, and others known 
to fame now or in their day. 

The view from any of the hills overlooking the 
rapids of the river is one of picturesque and varied 
beauty, embracing a wide extent of city and rural 
landscape. On the river bank is the old Pump -House 
of the City Water Works. 

The New Reservoir Park is on the river, about a 
mile west from Hollywood. The section between 
these two points is known as Harvie town. In this 
region were located Camps Winder and Jackson, 
which were large hospitals during the war ; and here, 



60 Tours of the City. 

after the evacuation, were quartered large bodies of 
United States troops doing garrison duty in the city. 

The Reservoir Park includes about three hundred 
acres of a plateau, which is the highest ground about 
Richmond. It has been greatly improved of late 
years, and laid out in drives and walks. The mounded 
reservoir covers a space of eleven acres, with a capacity 
of forty million gallons. The water is forced from the 
new Pump-House, on the river bank, a short distance 
below. The pumps are fed from dams in the river 
and by a canal extending some six miles above this 
point. The Park is the western terminus of the Main- 
street and Broad street electric cars. Its attractive 
grounds and surroundings, and easy access, make it a 
favorite public resort. 

A walk along the river from the Pump -House to the 
Belt-Line bridge will well repay the lover of pictu- 
resque scenery. The view from the bridge, or any 
elevation thereabouts, is a scene of rare and varied 
beauty, much of it retaining the wild charm of aborigi- 
nal nature, which here defies the hand of improve- 
ment. 

The Soldiers' Home, on the Grove road and Boule- 
vard, northward from the Reservoir, shelters a colony 
of disabled Confederate veterans. The Home was 
founded and equipped in 1884, by R. E. Lee Camp, 
C. V., of Richmond, and for several years was sup- 
ported by their private funds. Its support is now 
aided by appropriations from the State and the city. 
In eight years the State has appropriated $173,000, 



Tours of the City. 61 

while Lee Camp and its friends have appropriated 
$149,000. The number of inmates is about two hun- 



fir. 



.1 / 




dred and fifty. The buildings and grounds are very 
attractive in appearance, and visitors. are welcomed. 



62 



Tours of the City. 



The Lee Monument is at the head of Franklin street. 
The equestrian statue surmounting a lofty granite 
pedestal, was the work of Mercie, the French sculptor. 




LEE MONUMENT. 



Its unveiling (May 29, 1890) was a memorable occa- 
sion, when thousands of people, including delegations 
from the whole South, packed the streets for miles. 



Tours of the City. 63 

The Fair Grounds and Exposition buildings, to the 
northward, on Broad street, occupy the site of old 
Camp Lee, the camping-place of thousands of soldiers 
during the war. The grounds are now used for the 
annual fairs of the State Agricultural Society. 

Just below the Lee Monument are the buildings and 
spacious grounds of Richmond College, covering an 
area of several acres. The library and museum rooms 
of the College are very handsome apartments. 

The Howitzer Statue, a spirited figure in bronze, 
adorns an open plaza at Park avenue and Beech street. 
The monument commemorates the war services, from 
1861 to 1865, of the three companies of Richmond 
Howitzers, an artillery organization. The statue was 
designed by W. L. Sheppard, a Richmond artist. 

This section of the city, from the Soldiers' Home 
to Monroe Park, is the modern new Richmond that 
has been built up within the last twenty-five years. 
Before that time Monroe Park was practically the 
western limit of the city. The trend of extension in 
Richmond has always been westward, as if to reach 
the elevated plateau of this new section, where it is 
now widely planted and rapidly growing. As late as 
five years after the war the area of most of this section 
was in groves and cornfields, where are now miles of 
new streets solidly built and traversed by electric rail- 
ways. 

The driving route from the Lee Monument back to 
the Capitol is usually along Franklin street, in which 
are the homes of much of the wealth and fashion of 



64 



Tours of the City. 



Richmond. Many of the residences are very hand- 
some structures. 

At Laurel street is Monroe Park, with a bronze 
statue of General W. C. Wickham, designed by E. V. 




iliJi- 



ffi* Uu 



III I »» HI 





JEFFERSON HOTEL. 

Valentine. It is proposed to erect the Davis Monu- 
ment in the Park. At Monroe street is the handsome 
building of the Commonwealth Club, and a few squares 
below is the new Jefferson Hotel, occupying half of the 
block, with fronts on Franklin and Main streets. The 



Tours of the City 



65 




G6 Tours of the City. 

hotel, in finish and appointments, is one of the finest 
buildings of its kind in the country. In the main cor- 
ridor is a marble statue of Thomas Jefferson, the work 
of E. V. Valentine, a Richmond artist. On the route 
down to the Capitol the Albemarle Club is at Grace 
and Third streets, and at Grace and Sixth is the West- 
moreland Club. 

The points and objects noticed in this chapter are 
those usually visited by strangers. Many other ob- 
jects of interest, off from the lines of these routes, 
are noticed in other pages of this book. There are 
many pleasant drives through the suburbs around the 
city, a favorite one being through the highly-improved 
country on the north side, along the Boulevard and 
Brook road to the A. P. Hill Statue. Among promi- 
nent suburban points may be mentioned Barton 
Heights, Chestnut Hill, Fairmount Park, Lakeside 
Park, Leonard Heights, and Forest Hill. 



BUSINESS INTERESTS, 



MANUFACTURES AND TRADE. 

SINCE the war there has been an almost mar- 
vellous development and growth of the business 
and manufacturing interests of Richmond. The 
end of the war left Richmond bankrupt, with 
large sections of her business quarters in ashes. Since 
that era of disaster her people have re-established and 
enlarged their business interests, rebuilt the burned 
sections, and are now fairly on the road of prosperity, 
with a population and area more than double those 
of 1865. One remarkable feature of this modern 
growth is seen in the variety of the interests con- 
tributing to the annual statistics of the city's business. 
Tobacco and iron manufactures, the leading interests 
here, are staple and inherited industries. But modern 
Richmond has gone largely into diversified manufac- 
tures, and many things that used to be called Yankee 
notions are now a large output of Richmond factories. 
The annual value of Richmond's wood ware, bas- 
kets, brooms, paper boxes, and other small wares, 
reaches the millions, and some of these factories are 
among the largest in the country. Over three million 
dollars are paid yearly for Richmond- made cigars, 
cigarettes, and cheroots, and the annual production of 
cigarettes is now about nine hundred millions. These 
varied products of her factories are making Richmond 
a wholesale market for the supply of many articles for 
which in former years orders were sent North, or else- 



68 



Business Interests. 




THE LEXINGTON. 

where. The enlargement and extension of rail and 
water communication are opening U p new and inex- 
haustible supplies of the raw materials for manufacture, 
and creating increased demand for the finished products 
to supply the territory naturally tributary to Richmond 
as its market. 

A summary of the status of the manufacturing and 
jobbing, and other leading business interests of the 
city, is presented in the figures below, taken from the 
annual reports of January 1, 1896. The returns of 
manufacturing establishments show 889 plants, em- 
ploying 18,133 operatives, with aggregate capital of 
$16,163,000, and total sales amounting to $32,026,000. 
The following table shows the number and figures ol 
the leading manufactures for 1895 : 



Business Interests. 



69 



Kind of Manufacture. 


*J CO 

Kl -t-> 

<sj 


a 
W 
o 

d 


"•-i 'co 

£ pq 

O 


03 

CO 

"3 

d 
a 

< 


Agricultural implements 

Bags, paper twine, paper boxes, awn- 
ings, nets, and tags 


4 

13 
20 
3 
3 
15 
34 
33 

9 
135 
15 

4 

12 
14 
60 
25 
66 
62 

3 
50 

8 
7 
4 
7 
25 
15 

12 
5 

18 

23 

32 

20 

7 

6 

5 

34 

16 

3 

36 

17 

4 

4 


181 

301 
45 
43 

225 
95 

183 

765 

40 
995 
595 

25 
500 
100 
564 
250 
3,095 
425 

30 
350 

147 
220 
215 
20 
180 
650 

35 
15 

300 

140 

2,600 

40 

103 
41 
35 
35 

379 

210 

25 

3,104 

627 
30 

165 


$ 188,500 

432,000 
115,000 
65,000 
225,000 
200,000 
175,500 
646,500 

250 000 
376,500 
275,000 
7,500 
200,000 

90,000 

375,000 

200,000 

1,615,000 

275,000 

50,000 
600,000 

130,000 
1,500,0 
450,000 
7,500 
150.000 
490,000 

12,000 

4,500 

275,000 

130,000 

2,500.000 

30,000 

50,000 
100,000 
200,000 

52,500 
225,000 
300,000 

40,000 

2,435,000 

650,000 

35,000 

35,000 


$ 350,000 
920,000 


Bakers 


217,000 


Bark and sumac 


118,000 


Baskets and brooms 

Beer, ales and mineral waters 

Blacksmiths and wheelwrights .... 
Blank-books, binding, and publishing . 
Bluing, dyeing, bleaching, and clean- 
ing 


540,500 
480,000 
197,500 
860,000 

50,000 
1,530,000 


Boxes barrels, and hogsheads 

Brands, stamps, and stencil-cutters . . 

Bricks 

Candy and confectioners 

Carpenters and builders 

Carriages wagons, and carts .... 
Cigars, cigarettes, and cheroots .... 
Clothing, merchant tailors and cotton 

Coffee and spice mills 

Drugs, medicine, and meat juice .... 
Electrotyping, engraving, and litho- 
graphing 

Fertilizers and chemicals 

Flour and corn-meal 


550,000 
21,500 
347,000 
320,000 
929,500 
275,000 

3,125,000 
302,000 
201,000 

1,447,500 

230,000 
2,320,000 
1,250,000 


Furniture, mattresses, upholstery, &c. . 

Granite, stone, and marble 

Gunsmiths, locksmiths, and wire- 
workers 


24,000 
255,000 
690,000 

29,000 


Hair- workers 

Harness, saddles, collars, trunks, &c. . 
Ice, coal-tar. paste, and ground glue . 
Iron, nails, machinery, foundries, &c. . 

Jewellers 

Lime, plaster, cement, hair, &c 

Lubricators, grease, oil, and paints . . 
Packers and curers 


10,000 
525,000 
210,000 
2 850,000 
70.000 
260,000 
240,000 
420,000 


Pickles, canned goods, and flavorings . 
Plumbers, tinners, and gas-fitters . . . 
Sash, doors, and blinds 


135,000 
625,000 
420,000 


Soap .... 


71,500 


Tobacco— smoking and chewing .... 
Tobacco— stemmers and reprizers . . 
Tinners 


6,725,000 

1,650,000 

100,000 


Underwear, suspenders, hats, and furs 


135,000 




889 


18,133 


$16,163,000 


832,026,000 



70 Business Interests. 

Tobacco. 

The trade in tobacco, raw and manufactured, is the 
leading as well as the oldest business interest of Rich- 
mond. The plant has been from early days one of 
the agricultural staples of the State, and in its manu- 
facture Richmond brands have always had pre-emi- 
nence in the markets of the world. In its various 
forms of leaf and manufactured product the volume 
of business in favorable years has amounted to $25,- 
000,000. A large proportion of the manufactured 
tobacco exported from the country goes from this 
revenue district, including Richmond and Petersburg, 
which has paid about $50,000,000 revenue tax since 
the war, the annual tax averaging about $1,750,000. 

The development of the cigarette and cheroot busi- 
ness has been a growth beyond all precedent here. 
In 1875 there were made in Richmond 3,116,000 
cigarettes ; in 1880 the output was 52,000,000. The 
last returns show an increase to nearly 900,000,000. 
These goods have gained world-wide popularity, and 
are exported to all civilized countries. The latest re- 
turns (1895) show : 

Number of tobacco, cigar, cigarette, and che- 
root factories 119 

Operatives employed 6,826 

Capital in business $4,700,000 

Sales for year $11,498,000 

Iron and Metal Industries. 
Next after tobacco, the iron and metal industries of 
Richmond rank in the amount of capital and number 



Business Interests. 71 

of operatives employed. The foundries and other 
iron works of Richmond have long had a high repu- 
tation for the excellence and variety of their work. 
During the war they were one of the mainstays of the 
Confederacy in supplying munitions and other equip- 
ments for its armies. In common with all other 
interests, they shared the destructive losses of the evac- 
uation fire that destroyed some of the larger establish- 
ments. In subsequent years the business has been 
re-established and greatly enlarged, and Richmond's 
iron works now turn out everything in their line, 
from a keg of nails to locomotive engines and the 
machinery for battle ships. An iron steamship was 
built here some years ago, and a Richmond machine- 
shop has supplied St. Petersburg, Russia, with steam 
fire-engines. The last annual reports show : 

Number of foundries, machine-shops, &c. . . . 23 

Operatives employed 2,600 

Capital in business $2,500,000 

Annual sales $2,850,000 

These figures are a decrease from those of previous 
years of more general prosperity. 

Milling 
has for a century been an important industry, and 
Richmond flour has long had high repute, not only 
domestic, but also for export, especially for South 
American markets. Before the war this tropical trade 
employed a regular line of vessels, whose return car- 
goes made Richmond one of the chief coffee markets 
of the country. Some of the largest mills were burned 



72 Business Interests. 

in the evacuation fire of 1865, but are since rebuilt. 
Among the more important may be mentioned the 
Gallego, the Haxall, and the Dunlop, all situate on 
the river, from which they get their water-power. 

The numerous other factories and mills of Richmond 
represent a great variety of industries. The classifi- 
cation of the annual trade reports is summarized in 
some seventy items, but a more detailed statement 
would show more than a hundred different manufac- 
turing industries. As illustrating the variety of this 
development, the statistics show that while the 
figures of the tobacco trade have barely doubled with- 
in the last twenty years, in that time the figures of 
other manufactures have increased one hundred and 
twenty-five per cent. Paper mills, fertilizer and chem- 
ical works, wooden-ware, tanneries and leather goods, 
boots and shoes, baskets and brooms, are large and 
growing industries. Paper-box and bag factories give 
employment to thousands of women, who are also 
employed largely in the making of tags, labels, and 
other smaller industries. Electric light and construc- 
tion companies have built up a large business, and the 
factories of agricultural implements, carriages and 
wagons supply much more than the local demand. 
Artificial ice works supplement and keep down the 
prices of the natural product, and Richmond brew- 
eries make a better beer than many other brews that 
are sold here on their reputation. 

These industries are of local origin, and founded on 
resources near at hand ; the raw material, of practically 



Business Interests. 73 

unlimited extent, being abundantly produced around 
or in easy reach of Richmond. The tobacco and 
grain fields of Virginia, the ores from the mines, and 
woods from the forests, granite from inexhaustible 
rock-beds, hides, bark, sumac, lime-shell, and num- 
berless other products are accessible in quantity to 
meet any demand. Railroads and water routes furnish 
easy communication with all fields of production as 
well as with markets. 

WHOLESALE AND RETAIL TRADE. 

The growth of the wholesale jobbing trade of Rich- 
mond is perhaps more remarkable than the modern 
development of her manufactures. The latter has 
been the natural result of the proximity of raw mate- 
rial to manufacturing facilities, while trade had to con- 
tend with strong competition at every point, in rivalry 
with other cities rich and fully equipped for business. 
After the war Richmond merchants had to start with 
practically nothing in the way of capital, and were 
under the necessity of rebuilding large sections of a 
ruined city to furnish storehouses for the accumulation 
of goods. In recent years the wholesale jobbing trade 
has done a business of over $36,000,000 a year, on 
an invested capital of $8,000,000. Even under the 
general business depression of the last few years the 
latest returns of wholesale trade show sales amount- 
ing to $30, 189,000 on an invested capital of $7,814,000. 

The following table gives the items and figures of 
the wholesale trade for 1895 : 



74 Business Interests. 

„ _ , . , Capital in Annual 

Class, article, or kind. ,, . _ , 

Business. Sales. 

Groceries and liquors $2,425,000 $13,021,239 

Provisions 470,000 3,139,760 

Dry goods and notions 1,000,000 2,811,500 

Fancy groceries and tobacco . . 505,000 2.586.375 

Boots and shoes 550,000 2,046,300 

Drugs 376,000 838,500 

Hardware 250,000 858,800 

Railway and plumbers' supplies . 317.500 690,750 

Hay, feed, and seeds 250,000 512,350 

Oils, paints, and varnish .... 175,000 465,000 

Clothing-, hats, and caps .... 170,000 425,000 

Rooks, stationery, and paper . . 180,000 400,000 

Hides and leather 225,500 425,000 

Sewing-machines 220,000 357,000 

Licorice 150,000 370,250 

Stoves and tinware 125,000 242,500 

China and earthenware 65,000 240,200 

Pianos and organs 145,000 220,000 

Wood and willow-ware 75,000 194,000 

Carpets and upholstery 60,000 170,000 

Sporting and rubber goods . . 40,000 70,000 

Millinery 40,000 105,000 

Totals $7,814,000 $30,189,524 

Sales for 1895, compared with 1894 : 

1895 $30,189,524 

1894 29,213,880 

Other branches of business, such as retail trade, 
real estate, building, and the varied occupations of a 
growing city have kept pace with the leading indus- 
tries noted above. The stores of the city are well 



Business Interests. 75 

supplied with all the necessaries and luxuries of living, 
and some of the larger establishments will compare 
with the great metropolitan caravansaries in the variety 
and elegance of their stocks. While the retail trade 
is located mainly on Broad and Main streets, yet a 
very considerable proportion of it is scattered through 
other streets in all sections of the city. It is estimated 
that if this trade were concentrated in one street it 
would entirely fill a length of more than two miles, 
showing the activity and moving crowds that make 
the upper parts of Broad street such a lively avenue. 

The principal business and trade organizations are : 

The Chamber of Commerce, which has offices and 
halls in its large and handsome building on the south- 
west corner of Main and Ninth streets. The organ- 
ization is composed of merchants and other business- 
men, and its objects and aim are to foster and protect 
the general business interests of the city. 

The Tobacco Exchange, on Shockoe Slip, Cary and 
Thirteenth streets, represents the tobacco trade, and is 
largely the headquarters for the sale of and dealings in 
the raw leaf. 

The Grain and Cotton Exchange, on Shockoe Slip, 
is the headquarters for dealers in those commodities. 

The Stock Exchange is the meeting- place of bank- 
ers and brokers for dealings in stocks and financial 
securities, of which there are daily sales. 

Numerous professional organizations and Labor 
Unions look after and protect the interests of their 
several callings and business. 



EDUCATIONAL. 



THE interests of education in Richmond are libe- 
rally provided for in an excellent system of 
public schools, with numerous private schools, 
seminaries, and colleges, some of which have a 
recognized high rank. The present public school 
system was inaugurated in 1869. It has grown in 
popularity and efficiency, and is now reputed among 
the best in the country. The school-houses are gene- 
rally large and handsome buildings, erected for school 
purposes, and supplied with improved furniture and 
apparatus. The reports of the last session show that 
the schools employed 17 principals, 153 white and 79 
colored teachers. The pupils numbered 12,287, of 
whom 7,258 were white, and 5,029 were colored. 
The annual cost is about $150,000. Each school is 
under the charge of a white male principal, and all are 
under the general management of the City Superin- 
tendent. The governing body of the system is the 
Board of School Trustees, nine in number, appointed 
by the City Council. There are numerous private 
schools, some of them of very high character, that 
maintain the ancient reputation of Richmond as an 
educational centre. The female schools of higher 
grade rank among the best in the State, and have a 
large outside patronage. 

Richmond College, at the head of Grace street, is 
the only institution in the city of collegiate grade, 



Educational. 77 

conferring literary degrees. It has eight literary and 
scientific schools and a Law Department. 

The Mechanics' Institute, 604 east Main street, an 
ably-conducted institution, offers an excellent night 
school for the young mechanic ambitious of more than 
manual dexterity in his craft. 

The Union Theological Seminary will soon occupy 
very handsome buildings and grounds on the Brook 
road, just outside the city. The seminary has a high 
reputation as one of the leading divinity schools in 
the South. Though under Presbyterian control, the 
institution is open to students of all denominations. 

The Richmond Theological Seminary, Main and 
Nineteenth streets, for the education of colored min- 
isters, holds a good rank, and has had a successful 
career for a number of years. Its graduates stand 
high among the preachers of their race. 

Hartshorn Memorial College, on the western exten- 
sion of Leigh street, established by J. C. Hartshorn, 
of Rhode Island, has handsome and commodious 
grounds and buildings. The college is designed for 
the higher education of colored girls. 

Leading Catholic Schools are Monte Maria Con- 
vent, Grace and Twenty-second streets; St. Joseph's 
Academy, Marshall and Fourth streets; and St. Mary's 
Institute, north Fourth street, for girls. Among those 
for boys are the "Bishop's School," Marshall and 
Ninth streets; St. Patrick's School, Grace and Twenty- 
sixth streets, and others in different parts of the city. 

The Medical Colleges of Richmond have won high 
rank as professional schools, and attract several hun- 



78 



Educational. 



dred students to the city. Their growing" importance, 
with the enlargement of hospitals and dispensaries, 
of which there are eleven, and the various public 
charities, tend to increase the importance of the city 
as a Southern centre for medical thought and learning. 

The Medical College of Virginia, Marshall and Col- 
lege streets, established 1838, has had a long and 
successful career. In recent years its course of instruc- 
tion has been largely extended, with increased improve- 
ments and facilities for professional work. 

The University College of Medicine, Clay and 
Twelfth streets, was founded in 1893. It comprises 
three independent departments — Medicine, Dentistry, 
and Pharmacy. The institution is successful and 
flourishing, under able faculties in all departments. 




MURPHY'S HOTEL. 



CHURCHES. 

THE religious interests of Richmond are represented 
in about one hundred churches and missions of 
of various creeds and denominations. The fol- 
lowing table shows the denominations and sta- 
tistics from the latest renort, for 1895 : 





t^ to 

s- 2 


P. 
S 




Sunday Schools^ 


Denominations. 


u a o 


j3 




So 


a> 




£*g 


A 




fc 


<3 


o 


o g 


w 


Baptist— White 


16 


8,619 


$ 78,776 12 


667 


6,379 


Colored 


18 


12,042 


28,053 19 


374 


3,8^3 


Catholic— White 


4 


7,150 


10,050 00 


98 


1,035 


Colored 


1 


125 




5 


95 


Disciples 


4 


1,712 


13,589 63 


100 


826 


Friends 


1 


51 


500 00 


2 


15 


German Evangelical . . . 


1 


275 


3,600 00 


30 


215 


Swedenborgian 


1 


17 




1 


4 




4 
3 


359 
418 


11,050 00 
3,307 00 


38 
34 


315 


Lutheran 


276 


Methodist— White 


13 


5,675 


60,689 44 


536 


2,939 


Colored .... 


3 


513 


6,159 75 


40 


379 


Presbyterian— White . . . 


8 


2,552 


35,845 38 


217 


1,709 


Colored . . . 


1 


44 


435 65 


7 


55 


Prot. Episcopal— White . . 


10 


3,302 


72,005 09 


286 


2,499 


Colored . 


1 


70 


387 00 


6 


46 


Total 


89 


42,934 


$324,448 25 


2,441 


21,716 



The following table gives the name and location of 
the leading churches : 

CHURCHES. 

BAPTIST. 

First — Broad and Twelfth streets. 
Second — Main and Sixth streets. 
Calvarv — Grace and Pine streets. 



80 Churches. 

East-End— 1200 north Twenty-eighth street. 
Emmanuel— 607 north Fifth street. 
Fulton — Nicholson and Eighth streets. 
Grace-street — Grace and Foushee streets. 
Grove-avenue— 1009 Grove avenue. 
Leigh-street — Leigh and Twenty-fifth streets. 
Pine-street — Pine and Albemarle streets. 
Randolph-street — Randolph and Beverly streets. 
Venable-street — Yenable and Twenty-first streets. 
West View— 2001 west Cary street. 

Colored Baptist. 
First — Broad and College streets. 
Second — B}-rd and First streets. 
Ebenezer — Leigh and Judah streets. 
Fifth— 1400 west Cary street. 
Mt. Zion — Duval and St. John streets. 
Fifth-street — Fifth and Jackson streets. 
Brookland — 810 north Seventh street. 
Fourth-street — 719 north Fourth street. 
Fountain— 821 north Thirty-first street. 
Moore-street — 812 Moore street. 
Wesley Chapel — Richard and Seventeenth streets. 
Cedar-street— Cedar and James streets. 
Mount Tabor — Woodville. 
River View — 1404 Jacquelin street. 
Shiloh— Cedar and James streets. 
Mount Calvary — 112 Nicholson street. 
Sharon— 22 east Leigh street. 
Twentieth-street— 13 south Twentieth street. 

CATHOLIC. 

St. Peter's Cathedral — Grace and Eighth streets. 

St. Mary's German — Marshall and Fourth streets. 

St. Patrick's — Twenty-fifth, bet. Broad and Grace streets. 

Sacred Heart — Floyd avenue and Short street. 



Churches. 81 

Colored Catholic. 
St. Joseph— 707 north First street. 

CHRISTIAN. 

Seventh-street— Grace and Seventh streets. 
Marshall-street— 910 west Marshall street. 
Third— 400 north Twenty-sixth street. 

EPISCOPAL, 

All Saints— Grace and Madison streets. 

Grace— Main and Foushee streets. 

Christ— Yenable and Twenty-second streets. 

Holy Trinity— north Laurel, near Main street. 

Monumental— Broad, bet. Twelfth and Thirteenth streets. 

St. Andrews— Laurel and Beverly streets. 

St, James— Marshall and Fifth streets. 

St. John's— Broad and Twenty-fourth streets. 

St. Luke's— Washington and Beverly streets. 

St. Mark's— Clay and First streets. 

St. Paul's— Grace and Ninth streets. 

Weddell-Memorial— 514 Denny street. 

Barton Heights— Barton avenue. 

Colored Episcopal. 
St. Philip's— Leigh and St. James streets. 
St. John's— 621 north Twenty-eighth street. 

JEWISH. 

Beth Ahaba— Eleventh, bet. Marshall and Clay streets. 

Keneseth Israel— 211 Mayo street. 

Beth Shaloom— Monticello Hall. 

Sir Moses Montefiore— Mayo, near Ross street. 

LUTHERAN. 

German Evangelical— Sixth, near Clay street. 
St. John's German— Marshall and Eighth streets, 
First English— Grace and Seventh streets. 
Trinity— Twenty-ninth and T streets. 



82 Churches. 

METHODIST EPISCOPAL. 

Asbury — Lombardy, between Grove and Hanover streets. 

Broad-street — Broad and Tenth streets. 

Centenary— Grace, between Fourth and Fifth streets. 

( "lay-street — Clay and Adams streets. 

Denny-street — Denny and Seventh streets. 

Laurel-street — Laurel and Albemarle stre.ets. 

Park Place — 700 west Franklin street. 

St. James — 2815 east Marshall street. 

Trinity — Broad and Twentieth streets. 

Union Station — Twenty-fourth and N streets. 

Oak Park — Barton Heights. 

Colored Methodist. 
Asbury— 812 north Twenty-fifth street. 
Leigh-street — Leigh, near Adams street. 
Third-street — 614 north Third street. 
Twenty-fifth— Twenty-fifth, between N and O streets. 

PRESBYTERIAN. 

First — Grace and Madison streets. 

Second — Fifth, near Main street. 

Third — Broad and Twenty-sixth streets. 

Church of Covenant — Harrison and Park avenue. 

Grace-street — Grace and Fourth streets. 

Hoge Memorial — Franklin and Nineteenth streets. 

Westminster — Gary and Strawberry streets. 

Colored Presbyterian. 
First — Monroe and Catharene streets. 

Universalist — 205 Mayo street. 
Unitarian — Belvidere Hall. 



Churches. 



83 



A notable characteristic of Richmond churches is 
seen in the fraternal relations prevailing between the 
different denominations. This kindly spirit has ex- 
isted from very early days. About the beginning of 




JEWISH SYNAGOGUE. 



this century, when there was yet no church in the 
upper part of the city, the people of that section met 
every Sunday in the Delegates' Hall in the Capitol 
for religious services, which were conducted alter- 
nately by ' ' Parsons ' ' Buchanan and Blair, the former 



84 



Churches. 



an Episcopal, the latter a Presbyterian clergyman. 
These two " Parsons," as they were familiarly called, 





i 






J 










'i|b| 


Ipsir 




-/'tS^^^I 













BROAD-STREET METHODIST CHURCH. 



conducted on alternate Sundays the service ot their 
respective churches, the same congregation uniting 



Churches. 85 

in both ; while the Abbe Dubois, a Catholic priest, 
performed the service of his church in the court-room, 
the present Senate Chamber. A recent instance of 
this fraternal spirit was seen in the public reception 
given to the Rev. Dr. M. D. Hoge in honor of the 
fiftieth anniversary of his pastorate of the Second 
Presbyterian church; on which occasion thousands of 
people, of all creeds and denominations, met and paid 
their respects to a revered clergyman and citizen. 

Many of the Richmond churches are architecturally 
handsome and attractive buildings. They are gene- 
rally commodious and well adapted to the purposes of 
their structure. Connected with and supported by 
the churches are many beneficial societies, orphan 
asylums, homes for aged and infirm women, and other 
charitable institutions. 

The Young' Ile?^ s Christian Association, Main and 
Sixth streets, has a large and influential membership, 
representing all denominations. The building is 
handsome and well arranged for its purposes, contain- 
ing a lecture-hall, class-rooms, and library. The 
educational department provides instruction in several 
useful branches, and a well-equipped gymnasium 
supplies a thorough course of physical training. 

The Colored Young Men' s Christian Association is 
located at Leigh and Third streets. 



SOCIAL AND MILITARY ORGANIZATIONS. 



THE social life of Richmond, outside the private 
circles of home, is illustrated in numerous civil 
and military organizations. Club life, which has 
developed here mainly since the war, now sub- 
serves large private and semi-public interests and 
there are numerous organizations of the kind, varied 
in character as in their objects. The largest and most 
prominent of purely social character are : 

The Westmoreland Club, 601 east Grace street. 




THE WESTMORELAND CLUB. 



Social and Military Organizations. 87 




THE COMMONWEALTH CLUB. 

The Commonwealth Club, 401 west Franklin street. 
The Albemarle Club, 301 east Grace street. 
The Jefferson Club, 808 east Marshall street. 
The membership of these clubs includes very many 
of the leading business and professional men of the 

city- 

The Woman s Club, Franklin street, graced with 
the membership of many of the best ladies of Rich- 
mond, is devoted to literary as well as social functions. 

The Mozart Association, devoted to the cultivation 
of music, has its handsome music hall and theatre at 
103 north Eighth street. The regular entertainments 
of the Association have long provided recreation and 
amusement for its large membership. 



Social and Military Organizations. 




Social and Military Organizations. 89 

The Gesa?igverei?i Virginia, 309 north Seventh 
street, is the oldest social and artistic organization of 
the city, having- been founded in 1852 by German zeal 
for the cultivation of music. The society owns its 
handsome and spacious house and grounds, including 
a concert hall and garden. 

The Virginia Boat Chib flies its colors from a well- 
equipped club-house on Mayo's Island. 

Benevolent societies, more or less social in charac- 
ter, are numerous and varied. The list of these 
organizations, with their officers, fills more than ten 
pages of the City Directory. 

Military interests have their homes in the several 
armories, veteran camps, and like organizations. 

The Regimental Armory, at Seventh and Marshall 
streets, is the quarters of the First Regiment. In 
front of the armory are mounted several ancient stone 
cannon balls of huge calibre, that were brought from 
Constantinople many years ago. 

The Blues' Armory, Ninth and Cary streets, is the 
headquarters of the Richmond Light Infantry Blues, 
the oldest existing military organization in the State, 
organized in 1793. The command now forms a bat- 
talion of two companies. 

The Howitzer Armory, 616 north Eighth street, 
and the Cavalry Armory, 615 north Seventh street, 
are the headquarters of the artillery and cavalry com- 
mands of the city. 

Lee Camp of Coyifederate Veterans has its hall and 
quarters in a handsome building, 514 east Broad street, 











/ 




Social and Military Organizations. 91 

recently erected, and owned by the camp, which has 
a large and influential membership. 

George E. Pickett Camp has its quarters in Smith's 
Hall, on Fifth between Broad and Marshall streets. 
The camp is composed mainly of the veterans of 
Pickett's Division. 

Phil. Kearney Post, Grand Army of the Republic, 
meets in Wilkinson Hall, Ninth street. 



HOSPITALS AND CHARITIES. 



THE Old Dominion Hospital is attached to and 
under the control of the Medical College of Vir- 
ginia. An auxiliary Women's Board of Man- 
agers is composed of representatives from the 
various churches of the city. Connected with the 
hospital is a Training-School for Nurses, and one of 
the features of the institution is its Children's Ward. 
Provision is made for charity as well as pay patients. 

The Virginia Hospital, 1100-1104 Clay street, ad- 
joins the University College of Medicine, whose faculty 
constitute its medical and surgical staff. The equip- 
ment and furnishings of the hospital are of the most 
approved designs, and there is a Training-School for 
Nurses, with a two years' course of study and hospital 
practice. 

St. Luke 1 s Home for the Sick, Governor and Ross 
streets, is a private sanitarium, conducted by Dr. Hun- 
ter McGuire. The high reputation of the Home 
attracts patients from all parts of the country. In con- 
nection with it is a Training-School for Nurses. 

The Eye y Ear, Nose, and Throat Infirmary, 217 
Governor street, was established 1879, for the treat- 
ment of diseases of those organs, especially for poor 
patients, to whom it has been a large and generous 
charity. In addition to its charity wards and private 
rooms it maintains an outdoor department for the poor. 



Hospitals and Charities. 93 

The Retreat for the Sick, at 307 north Twelfth 
street, is a large and commodious hospital, under the 
able management of a board of lady managers. In 
addition to its resident physicians, the medical faculty 
of the city generally are allowed to attend their own 
patients in the Retreat. 

The Sheltering- Arms Hospital, 1008 east Clay 
street, is essentially a charity hospital, under the man- 
agement of the ladies who compose its board of direc- 
tors. The buildings (the old Grant residence) are 
large and handsome, and furnished with all needful 
appliances. 

The City Almshouse and Hospital, at the north 
end of Third street, is one of the handsomest public 
buildings of the city. In connection with it is a well- 
equipped Emergency Department, whose ambulances 
afford quick relief in case of accident in any part of 
the city. 

In addition to the hospitals named above are many 
semi-public charitable institutions, among which may 
be mentioned the City Missio?i> the Women's Chris- 
tian Association, Home for Aged and Infirm Women, 
Orphan Asylums, the Home for Incurables, the 
Foundling Hospital, the Maternity Hospital, the Mag- 
dalen Asylum, and the Home of the Little Sisters of 
the Poor, all of which provide support and comfort 
for the dependent and deserving. 



RAILROADS AND WATER LINES. 



DISTANCE FROM RICHMOND (BY RAIL) TO- 



Miles. 

Appomattox 123 

Ashland 17 

Atlanta, Ga. . . . . 549 

Baltimore, Md 158 

Boston, Mass 557 

Bristol, Tenn 329 

Charleston, S. C. . . . 457 

Charlottesville .... 96 

Chicago, 111 886 

Cincinnati, 580 

Danville 141 

Fredericksburg .... 61 

Jacksonville, Fla . . 731 

Lexington 196 

Luray 179 



Miles. 

Lynchburg 125 

Natural Bridge .... 196 

New Orleans 1,044 

New York 344 

Newport News .... 75 

Norfolk 104 

Old Point 85 

Petersburg 23 

Raleigh, N. C 181 

Roanoke 170 

Staunton . 136 

San Francisco, Cal. . . 3,253 
Washington, D. C. . . 116 
Williamsburg .... 48 
White Sulphur Spr'gs . 227 



The Chesapeake and Ohio Railway extends east- 
ward via Williamsburg to Newport News and Old 
Point, with steamer connections to Norfolk and Ports- 
mouth ; connecting at Norfolk with ocean steamers to 
New York and other Atlantic ports. Westward the 
line extends via Gordonsville, Charlottesville, Staun- 
ton, White Sulphur Springs, Huntington to Cincin- 
nati, O., and Louisville, Ky., with connections to all 
Western points. At intersecting points connections 
are made for Washington, Lynchburg, Winchester, 
and places in the Valley of Virginia. 



Railroads and Water Lines. 95 

The James River Division of the Chesapeake and 
Ohio extends through the James River Valley via 
Lynchburg and Natural Bridge to Lexington and 
Clifton Forge, where it unites with the main line. 

The Southern Raihvay extends eastward to West 
Point, there connecting with steamers for Yorktown, 
Baltimore, New York, and other points. Southward 
the line extends via Danville, to Greensboro, Ra- 
leigh, Atlanta, Augusta, and points South and South- 
west, with connections to Western North Carolina, 
Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, Louisiana. 

The Atlantic Coast Line extends, via Petersburg 
and Weldon, N. C. , to Charleston, S. C, Savannah, 
Ga., Tampa, Fla., with connections for all points South 
and Southwest. 

The Norfolk and Western Railroad, via Petersburg, 
extends eastward to Norfolk ; westward, via Farm- 
ville, Lynchburg, and Roanoke, to Bristol, Knoxville, 
Chattanooga, and all points West and Southwest. 

The Seaboard Air- Line, via Petersburg and Wel- 
don, N. C, extends to Atlanta, with connections 
to Montgomery, Mobile, and New Orleans and points 
in Florida. 

The Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Rail- 
road extends, via Ashland, Fredericksburg, Quantico, 
Alexandria, to Washington, connecting with the Penn- 
sylvania and other systems for all points North, East, 
and West. 

The Farmville and Powhala?i Railroad, via Chester 
and Moseley's Junction, extends to Farmville, there 
connecting with the Norfolk and Western. 



96 Railroads and Water Lines. 

The regular lines of steamers on James river give 
water communication with Norfolk and other ports. 

The Virginia Navigatioji Company, plying between 
Richmond and Norfolk, touches at all river landings, 
including City Point, Jamestown, Newport News, 
and Old Point. 

The Old Dominion Steamship Company's ocean 
steamers ply regularly to New York, via Norfolk. 
For sailing days from Richmond see newspaper ad- 
vertisement. Connection with daily steamers from 
Norfolk is also made via Chesapeake and Ohio and 
Norfolk and Western railroads. 

The Clyde Steamship Company plies between Rich- 
mond and Philadelphia. 



BATTLEFIELDS. 



EVERY road out from Richmond leads to battle- 
fields. From and beyond Westham, on the 
River road, about six miles above the city, 
where the Dahlgreen raid was first met and re- 
pulsed, around to Harrison's Landing, the whole 
region was the arena of conflicts of every kind during, 
the late war, ranging from skirmishes of raiding or 
scouting parties to the encounters of pitched battle, 
in which more than a hundred thousand men were 
engaged. Taking them in order of location, the most 
important of these battlefields are — Yellow Tavern, 
Mechanicsville, Ellerson's Mill, Gaines' Mill, Cold Har- 
bor, Savage Station, Frazier's Farm, Seven Pines, Fort 
Harrison, Malvern Hill. The distance from the city to 
these locations varies from five to nearly twenty miles, . 
Mechanicsville being the nearest, and Malvern Hill 
the most distant of those mentioned. Besides .these 
fields of pitched battle, nearly every place within a zone 
of thirty or more miles around the city has its story 
of raid or skirmish. On the other side of James 
river the lines of defence and attack extended to and 
ten miles beyond Petersburg, distant twenty-three 
miles from Richmond. Along these lines there was 
much severe fighting before Grant succeeded in break- 
ing through at Petersburg, April 2, 1865, compelling 
the evacuation of Richmond, and resulting in the sur- 
render of Lee's army a week later at Appomattox. 



98 Battlefields. 

Remnants and traces of the interior line of fortifica- 
tions are still to be seen in some places near the city; 
and along" the lines of investment, as well as on many 
of the battlefields, the ground is yet scarred and fur- 
rowed with the lines of earthworks thrown up by the 
contending armies. Old soldiers visiting the scenes 
of battle often recognize locations memorable in their 
experience of those days; but in many places the 
aspect of the country is greatly altered, either by the 
cutting away of forest or by the growth of woods over 
former fields and open country. The devastations of 
war have been largely repaired by the improvements 
of later years, and cultivated farms and orchards now 
replace wasted fields that were the camping and fight- 
ing-ground of great armies. 

The first, in order of time, of the important battles 
fought before Richmond was that of — 

Seven Pines, or Fair Oaks. — This battlefield is about 
eight miles out, and reached by electric railway from 
the city. The battle fought there May 31, 1S62, was 
a severe and bloody contest, in which the Confeder- 
ates, under Gen. J. E. Johnston, attacked a part of 
General McClellan's left wing that had been advanced 
across the Chickahominy, and was partially isolated. 
Their position was rendered the more precarious by a 
sudden rise in the river that separated them from the 
main body of their army. The Confederate attack 
failed to accomplish its object, which was the capture 
or destruction of this advanced corps. The battle was 
partially renewed the next morning, June 1, but without 



Battlefields. 99 

decided results for either side. The losses of both 
armies were severe, that of the Federals being about 
five thousand and of the Confederates a little over six 
thousand. General Johnston having been wounded 
in the first day's fighting, and disabled for active duty, 
the command devolved on Gen. G. W. Smith. 

The day after the battle Gen. R. E. Lee was ap- 
pointed to the command of the army. He immediately 
commenced preparations for the subsequent campaign 
that drove McClellan from his lines before the city. 
This campaign is commonly known as the Seven Days' 
battles of June and July, 1862, the initial fight of which 
was at — 

Mechanicsville, on the pike of that name, about 
five miles from Richmond. General Lee's scheme of 
operations opened with an attack on the right wing of 
McClellan' s line of investment, which had been ex- 
tended to this point, and strongly fortified. The 
fight was opened June 26, 1862, by A. P. Hill's 
division, which crossed the Chickahominy at Meadow 
Bridge, a short distance above, followed by Longstreet 
and D. H. Hill, who crossed at Mechanicsville. The 
contest at this point was but slight, the Federal ad- 
vance retiring to their works on Beaver Dam creek. 
The design was for a co-operative movement, in which 
Jackson's corps, just arrived from the Valley, should 
simultaneously attack from the other side of Mechan- 
icsville; but, being delayed by ignorance of the roads 
and obstacles encountered on the march, Jackson did 
not arrive on the field till the next day. Hill's troops, 



100 Battlefields. 

expecting every moment to hear the sound of Jack- 
son's guns on the enemy's flank, advanced through 
Mechanicsville and attacked the strongly entrenched 
lines around Ellerson's Mill, on Beaver Dam creek, 
the approach to which was over a plain and marsh, 
swept by a heavy fire of all arms. The evening of the 
26th was spent in repeated assaults that ended in disas- 
trous repulse, the Confederates losing eighteen hundred 
men, while the Federal loss was not more than three 
hundred. The position was too strong to be carried 
by direct assault, and could only be turned by the 
road over which Jackson was advancing. Fitz John 
Porter, the commander of this wing of the Federal 
army, being apprised of Jackson's approach on his 
flank and rear, retired from Beaver Dam creek during 
that night and the early morning of the next day. 
His new position was east of Powhite creek, about 
six miles below Mechanicsville, and along the lines of 
Games' Mill and Cold Harbor, which are about nine 
miles from Richmond by direct roads. The battle 
fought here June 27, 1862, was one ot the most 
severely contested actions of the war. The natural 
strength of the Federal line was improved by fortifica- 
tions, while the crests of the position were crowned 
with artillery. A. P. Hill, still in advance, first en- 
countered the enemy about noon, and became hotly 
engaged in a fierce struggle, in which he was sup- 
ported by Longstreet's and D. H. Hill's troops. The 
length of Jackson's line of march delayed his arrival 
and junction with Hill and Longstreet. As soon as his 



Battlefields. 101 

troops could be placed in position a general assault 
along the whole line carried the Federal works and 
forced Porter's retreat to the south side of the Chicka- 
hominy, where he effected his junction with the rest 
of McClellan's army. The fighting during the day 
was of the most desperate character, and resulted in 
large losses on both sides. Lee's forces amounted to 
about 47,000, against 35,000 of Porter's command 
defending their strong positions. Night put an end to 
the contest, and prevented reaping the full results of 
the Confederate victory. On the next morning, the 
28th, there were no Federal troops in Lee's front north 
of the Chickahominy. McClellan took up his line of 
retreat to James river, and concealing his intentions 
by skillful dispositions, gained a day's march before 
his rear was again assaulted at Savage Station. His 
strategy has been much criticised because he did not 
break through the comparatively small force left in 
front of Richmond, and attempt the capture of the 
city. 

Savage Station, on the York River railroad, was 
the scene of the third conflict of the Seven Days' bat- 
tles, when, on the evening of June 29, 1862, Magru- 
der's division attacked the rear of the retreating 
Federal army. Other troops, delayed by obstacles 
on the march, did not arrive in time to co-operate 
with Magruder, and the action was without decisive 
results. An immense quantity of stores was here 
destroyed by the Federals, who also abandoned their 
hospitals with twenty-five hundred sick and wounded 
men. 



102 Battlefields. 

Frazier* s Farm, or Glendale, just below Savage 
Station, was the scene of the next conflict, June 30, 
1862, with the rear of McClellan's army, the result of 
which effectually secured their retreat to James river. 
This fight was the crisis of McClellan's retreat, the 
Confederate forces being now within striking distance 
of him in the rear and on his flank, while miles of his 
trains still blocked the roads over which his army 
must march. The difficulty of operating in the heavily- 
wooded and swampy region, whose roads and positions 
were imperfectly known, prevented any combined 
assault by the Confederate forces,. and nearly the whole 
of the fighting fell upon Longstreet's and A. P. Hill's 
commands, who were opposed by the divisions of 
Kearney, McCall, Sedgwick, and Hooker. The bat- 
tle was severely contested, and the Federal forces 
maintained their position till night, covering the pas- 
sage of their trains to James river. During the night 
and the early morning of the next day the Federal 
army retired to Malvern Hill, where it was concen- 
trated in a strong defensive position. 

Malvern Hill is on James river, about twenty miles 
from Richmond. The battle fought there July 1, 
1862, was the last of the Seven Days' fighting that 
ended McClellan's campaign against the city. The 
position is one of great natural strength, and skillfully 
defended as it was by heavy masses of infantry and 
artillery crowning the heights, aided by the fire of 
gunboats from the river, it proved impregnable to 
such assaults as Lee's worn and depleted lines could 



Battlefields. 103 

make against it. Owing to ignorance of the roads 
and topography, and the dense forests which impeded 
communication, the line of attack was not formed 
until late in the afternoon, and the same causes pre- 
vented a proper concert of action among the attacking 
troops. Some of the assaults were of the most des- 
perate and determined character, but they failed to 
break the Federal line. The battle continued till 
after 9 o'clock at night, without decisive results, 
beyond securing McClellan's retreat. When the firing 
ceased several fragments of Confederate commands 
were holding their ground within a short distance of 
the Federal lines near the Crew House. By common 
consent an informal truce was established, and numer- 
ous parties from both armies, with lanterns and stretch- 
ers, wandered over the field seeking for the unfortunate 
wounded. The next morning McClellan's army had 
disappeared, having made its way to Harrison's Land- 
ing, which position was strongly fortified, and, by the 
aid of gunboats on the river, made secure against 
attack. General Lee remained in its front for some 
days, reconnoitering and offering battle, but in vain. 
On the 8th of July his army was withdrawn to the 
vicinity of Richmond. 

The Confederate losses in the Seven Days' battles 
amounted to about 17,000 ; the Federal loss was about 
15,000. In summing up the results, General Lee's 
report says: "The siege of Richmond was raised, and 
the object of a campaign which had been proscuted, 
after months of preparation, at an enormous expendi- 



104 Battlefields. 

ture of men and money, was completely frustrated. 
More than 10,000 prisoners, 52 pieces of artillery, and 
35,000 stand of small arms were captured. The stores 
and supplies of every description which fell into our 
hands were great in amount and value, but small in 
comparison with those destroyed by the enemy." 

Cold Harbor was again the arena of a great battle 
in Grant's campaign of 1864. In this battle the posi- 
tions of the respective armies were about the reverse of 
those of 1862, when the Federals were on the defen- 
sive on this line. In 1864 Grant assaulted Lee's lines 
in the early morning of June 3d, and suffered the most 
disastrous repulse of the war. His army attacked 
along a line of six miles, and was repulsed with terri- 
ble slaughter at all points, losing thirteen thousand 
men in less than an hour. The defeat and loss inflicted 
were so demoralizing that the troops could not be 
urged to a renewal of the assault when ordered. This 
was the last of the battles fought by Grant on the 
north side of James river, before he crossed that stream 
for the siege of Petersburg. 

\ellozv Tavern, about seven miles from Richmond, 
is reached by the Brooke and other roads through 
the northern suburbs of the city. The battle fought 
here May 11, 1864, defeated Sheridan's raid and saved 
Richmond from capture. Sheridan had been sent by 
Grant with 10,000 cavalry to interpose between Spot- 
sylvania and Richmond, break up the communications, 
and do all the damage possible in the rear of Lee's 
army then engaged in the battles of Spotsylvania. 



Battlefields. 105 

J. E. B. Stuart followed him with about three thou- 
sand cavalry, and by hard marching succeeded in 
throwing the bulk of his force across Sheridan's route 
at Yellow Tavern, while a small brigade that had 
advanced on the road behind Sheridan operated in 
his rear. The battle was desperately contested, and 
Stuart succeeded in holding Sheridan nearly all day, 
while infantry could be brought from below Richmond 
to man the fortifications around the city. When Sheri- 
dan finally broke through the depleted lines of cavalry 
opposing him, he deemed it prudent not to attempt 
the capture of the city by carrying the fortifications, 
around which he made a long circuit and rejoined 
Grant's army, after an absence of more than two 
weeks. The most serious result of the battle was the 
irreparable loss of General Stuart, who was mortally 
wounded, and died the next day. A monument on 
the field, near the Telegraph road, marks the spot 
where he fell. 

Fort Harrison, on the New Market road, near the 
river, about eight miles below Richmond, was assaulted 
and captured by the Federal troops September 29, 
1864. The loss of this position, with its garrison and 
fifteen guns, was a serious danger to the Richmond 
lines. An assault at the same time on Fort Gilmer, 
about a mile northward, was repulsed with heavy loss 
to the Federals. An attempt the next day, Septem- 
ber 30th, to recover Fort Harrison resulted in disas- 
trous failure, and the position remained permanently 
in possession of its captors, necessitating the read- 



106 Battlefields. 

justment of the Confederate lines in that quarter. 
Fort Harrison was the only point on the Richmond 
line of fortifications, north of James river, that was 
captured and held by Grant's forces during 1 the cam- 
paign that ended in the evacuation of the city. 

Chafiri s Bluff, on the river, a short distance from 
Fort Harrison, was a strongly fortified position, com- 
manding the river and the land approaches around it. 
A mile or so up the river, on the opposite side, is — 

Drewry's Bluff, or Fort Darling, whose fortifica- 
tions repulsed a naval attack May 15, 1862, by the 
Monitor, Galena, and other gunboats, that had been 
ordered to proceed to Richmond and shell the city 
into a surrender. Two years later, in May, 1864:, But- 
ler's troops made an attack on the lines to the right 
of Drevvry's Bluff. Being repulsed, he withdrew to 
his fortifications around Bermuda Hundred, where, in 
the language of General Grant's report, he was as safe 
and harmless as if he had been in a bottle strongly 
corked. 

Dutch Gap and the Howlett House Battery are a 
few miles below Chafin's Bluff, on the river. The 
Dutch Gap canal is cut through a narrow neck of 
land, Farrar's Island, around which the river makes a 
long sweep.' It was undertaken in 1864, with the 
object of avoiding the Confederate batteries at Hew- 
lett's, opposite the other end of the island, but did not 
succeed as a military project. After the war it was 
completed, and is now regularly used by vessels ply- 
ing the river. These positions were held until the 



Battlefields. 



107 



evacuation of the city. The entrance of the Federal 
troops into the city, April 3, 1865, was over the 
Osborne, Darby town, and Charles City roads. 

National Cemeteries are located at Seven Pines, Cold 
Harbor, and on the Williamsburg road a mile or so 
below the city. 




LIB BY PRISON. 
(Removed to Chicago.) 



INDEX. 



African, First, church . ** 

Allan House 

89 
Armories 

Barton Heights 14 

Battlefields 97-107 

Bell-House ?0 

Belle Isle °'_ 

Blues, Richmond L. I ' 

Business Interests 

Byrd, William • • 

Camp Lee 



12 

100 



Capitol Square, buildings and monuments 22-39 

Capitol disaster 

Car-lines 

Chafin's Bluff 

Chamber of Commerce 53 

Chimborazo Park n * 49 

Churches 79_85 

Church Hill 16 

City Hall 

Clay Statue 

Clubs 

Cold Harbor 

Cold Harbor, second battle 104 

Colleges and schools ' 

Colleges, Medical 

Commonwealth Club 

Davis Mansion . , . 

Distances by rail ■ 



30 

80 

100 



/ 1 

9, 61 

10 

94 



110 Index. 



Drewry's Bluff 


.... 10G 


Dutch Gap 


IOC 


Educational 


. . . . . 76 


Electric railways 


. 12-14 


Ellerson's Mill 


100 


Evacuation Fire 


52 


Fai r Grounds . . 


63 


Ford's Hotel 


13 


Franklin street 


63 


Frazier s Farm 


102 


Fori Harrison 


105 


Gamble's Hill 


11, 56 


Gaines' Mill 


100 


Gesangverein Virginia 


89 


Harvietown 


59 


Hill, A. P., Monument 


20, 66 


Historic Synopsis 


6 


Hollywood Cemetery 


. . . .... 57 


Hospitals and Charities 


...... 92 


Howitzer Statue . . . 


63 


Howitzer Armory 


.... 89 


Iron Works 


70 


Jackson Statue 


30 


Jefferson Hotel 


64 


Jefferson Park . . 


45 


Lafayette, Bust of 


26 


Lafayette in Richmond 


51 


Land Office . 


24 


Lee < <a m p, C. V. . .... 


89 


I ,'•<• M a nsion 


56 


Lee Mon n menl .... 


62 


Lexington Hotel 


12 


Libby Hill 


16, 47 


Libbv Prison . .... 


50 


Library, State 


. 32-39 



Index. 11 L 



Malvern Hill 


102 


Manufactures 


67-73 


Market, First .... 


. . . . 51 


Masonic Temple 


18 


Masons' Hall, old • . . . 


... 51 


Mechanicsville 


99 




. . 89 


Mills 


. . 71 




... 11, 04 


Monumental church ... 


43 




9 


Murphy's Hotel 


. . . . 13 


National cemeteries 


. . . 107 


Oak wood Cemetery ... 


... 49 


Old Stone House ... 


49 


Parks 


11 


Penitentiary, State ... 


57 


Poe, Edgar A 


56 


Points of Interest 


15 


Population 


. . . 9 




. . 34-39 


Post-office 


52 


Pratt's Castle 




Pump-House 


. . 59, 60 


Railroads, <kc * 


...... 94 


Reservoir Park ... 


59 


Richmond College 


63 


Richmond, founded 


7 




101 


Seven Pines .... 


. . . . . 98 


Shockoe Hill 


17 


Shockoe Valley 


45 


Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument .... 


47 


Soldiers' Home 


60 




27 



112 Index. 

St. John's church 45 

St. Paul's church 55 

State Library ... •. 32-39 

State Library Portrait Gallery . 34 

Stove, old, in Capitol . . , 27 

Streets 10 

Suburban Points 60 

Tobacco ... .... 70 

Tobacco Factories . 51 

Tours of City 40-66 

Trade, wholesale . . 73 

Trade organizations 75 

Union Depot 14 

Union Hill 16 

Union Hotel . .\ 51 

Virginia Historical Society 56 

Valentine Museum . 18 

Valentine Studio 18 

Washington Statue, Houdon's 24 

"Washington Monument 28 

Westmoreland Club 9 

Young Men's Christian Association 85 

Yellow Tavern 104 



